The 2022 Major League Soccer season was the 27th season of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

(MLS), the top professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

league in the United States and Canada. The league had 28 clubs following the addition of

Charlotte FC Charlotte FC is an American professional soccer club based in Charlotte. The team competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The team is owned by David Tepper, who was awarded the expansion franchise ...

as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

. The regular season began on February 26 and concluded on October 9. The MLS Cup Final occurred on November 5, sixteen days prior to the start of the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned ...

entered the season as defending champions, having defeated the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

MLS Cup 2021 MLS Cup 2021 was the 26th edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS) at the conclusion of the 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs. The soccer match was played on December 11, 2021, at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon, Unit ...

, while the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

entered the season as the reigning

Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 19 ...

winners. Western Conference regular season and playoff champions,

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club, commonly referred to as LAFC, is an American professional Association football team based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The club ...

won their second Supporters' Shield and their first

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

, defeating the Eastern Conference regular season and playoff champions, the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...

, in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

. A total of 476 matches were played over the course of the regular season and drew an average attendance of 21,033. Total attendance reached a record 10 million, but most teams in the league saw a decline in attendance since the 2019 season. In addition, this was the first season where all stadiums were open to full capacity since the 2019 season.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and sponsorships

Coaching changes

Regular season

Format

Each team played 34 matches, including 17 home games and 17 away games. * All teams played every Conference opponent twice – home and away, plus eight cross-conference games against different opponents within the regular season.

Conference standings

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Overall table

The leading team in this table wins the

Results

MLS All-Star Game

Playoffs

Bracket

Player statistics

Goals

Hat-tricks

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

Assists

Clean sheets

Awards

Team/Player of the Week

*Bold denotes League Player of the Week.

Goal of the Week

Player of the Month

End-of-season awards

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. Winners *Players in bold were awarded the Landon Donovan MVP Award for that season. Most appearances by a player The following players have appeared ...

References

External links

* {{2022–23 in North and Central America, and Caribbean football (CONCACAF)

Major League Soccer seasons