2023 Major League Soccer season

The 2023 Major League Soccer season was the 28th season of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada, and the 45th season overall of a national first-division league in the United States. The league expanded to 29 clubs following the addition of St. Louis City SC to the Western Conference, with Nashville SC moving back to the Eastern Conference.

The regular season began on February 25 and concluded on October 21; it was followed by the playoffs which commenced on October 25. The regular schedule was released on December 20, 2022. The regular season was paused from July 20 to August 19 for the month-long Leagues Cup, during which time MLS teams played Liga MX opponents.

In June 2022, Apple Inc. and MLS announced a ten-year partnership for the broadcast and streaming rights to all MLS and Leagues Cup games, as well as select MLS Next and MLS Next Pro games, on the MLS Season Pass service within the Apple TV app. Fox Sports retained linear MLS TV rights, while for the first time in league history, ESPN no longer aired matches. Univision opted to only air Leagues Cup games, thus also not broadcasting MLS regular season contests after a combined nineteen years.

For the first time since its founding, MLS qualification berths for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup were not exclusively allocated to American clubs, allowing expatriated Canadian clubs an opportunity to qualify for the tournament without necessarily winning the Canadian Championship.

Los Angeles FC were the reigning MLS Cup champions and were the Supporters' Shield holders; Philadelphia Union were the reigning Eastern Conference champions. In their fifth season in the league, FC Cincinnati won the Supporters' Shield for the first time. The Columbus Crew won MLS Cup 2023 by defeating Los Angeles FC 2–1 at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and sponsorships

Note: All teams use Adidas as universal kit manufacturer. As part of Apple's broadcast contract, all MLS kits included Apple TV+ as a sleeve sponsor.

Coaching changes

Regular season

Format

Each of the league's 29 teams played 34 matches—17 at home and 17 away games; the frequency of opponents was different for each conference due to the unequal number of teams. The 15 Eastern Conference teams played two matches against every other team in the same conference and one match each against six Western Conference teams. The 14 Western Conference teams faced each other twice as well as an additional one or two matches against an intra-conference team; they had one match each against either six or seven Eastern Conference teams.

The regular season began on February 25 and culminated with Decision Day on October 21, where all teams (except D.C.) played each other in simultaneous intra-conference matches. The season was paused for the 2023 Leagues Cup from July 21 to August 19 as well as FIFA international windows in October and November; the June and September international windows had a partial pause, with 13 clubs electing to continue playing during them. The majority of matches were played on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. local time as part of the Apple TV+ streaming contract. The 2023 MLS All-Star Game took place on July 19, 2023, at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. between the MLS All-Stars and Arsenal.

The MLS Cup Playoffs expanded to nine teams per conference and a total of 24 matches. Round One in late October consisted of a best-of-three series between the top seven teams per conference as well as the winner of a wild card match played by the eighth and ninth placed teams. The Conference Semifinals, Conference Final, and MLS Cup final remained single-elimination matches hosted by the higher-seeded team in late November and early December.

The 2023 season was the first to implement a "sustenance break" for iftar for Muslim players during Ramadan in April. The break was indicated by the referee as a stoppage in play after sundown and treated as a hydration break.

Conference standings

Overall table

The leading team in this table won the Supporters' Shield.

Results

MLS All-Star Game

MLS Cup Playoffs

Bracket

The higher seeded teams hosted single-elimination matches, with the MLS Cup host determined by overall points in the Supporters' Shield table. During the best-of-three round, the team with higher seed hosted the first match, and the third match if necessary.

Attendance

Average home attendances

Highest attendances

Regular season

2023 MLS Cup Playoffs

Player statistics

Source:

Goals

Hat-tricks

Notes

(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team
⁴ Scored 4 goals

Assists

Clean sheets

Awards

Team/Player of the matchday

• Bold denotes league player of the matchday.

Goal of the Matchday

Player of the Month

End-of-season awards

MLS Best XI

References

External links

• Official website