Major League Soccer

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Major League Soccer (MLS) is a first division professional soccer league in the United States. Most of the players are from the United States but some are from elsewhere, in particular Latin America. MLS is the highest level league sanctioned by the professional division of the United States Soccer Federation, which is a member of FIFA.

The league was formed in 1996, after several professional soccer leagues had failed in the United States and Canada. The Chicago Fire and the Miami Fusion joined in 1998. In 1999, the city of Columbus, Ohio built Columbus Crew Stadium, the first stadium ever built specifically for soccer in the United States. The Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion left the league after the 2001 season. Attendance was strong the first season, declined for several years, and has recently stabilized.

Quality of play is generally seen to have greatly improved since the birth of the league. Similarly, the United States Men's National Team's success in the 2002 soccer World Cup is partly attributed to skills built through play in the league.

Unlike in other professional sports leagues in the United States, MLS is organized as a "single-entity" organization where the league contracts directly with the players, in an effort to control spending and maximize exposure. Each team has an owner/investor and the league allows an owner to have more than one team.



Current Member Teams

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

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