The 2022 Portland Timbers season was the club's 36th season of existence and the 12th season for 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 ...

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-flight 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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The season covers the period from the end of the Timbers' last match in MLS Cup Final in 2021 to the team's last season in October 2022.

Background

The Timbers finished fourth in the Western Conference in the 2021 MLS season, advancing to the MLS Cup Final (which they hosted) where they lost on penalties to

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 ...

. Most of the season focused on fan discontent, with many supporters withholding season ticket pledges and attendance lagging—partially due to the lasting effects of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and cost-cutting, but also due to a large-scale abuse scandal coming from the

NWSL The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

and sister club

Portland Thorns The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Unit ...

, which directly impacted the Timbers organization. After a report commissioned by U.S. Soccer dropped on October 3, even more fan pressure began to mount. The report named the three men at the helm of the Timbers/Thorns organization as part of the problems brought about in the scandal: club owner

Merritt Paulson Henry Merritt Paulson III (born 1972/1973) is an American businessman who is the minority owner of Peregrine Sports, LLC, which owns the operating rights to the Portland Timbers, a Major League Soccer (MLS) team, and the Portland Thorns FC, a Nati ...

, Timbers GM

Gavin Wilkinson Gavin Wilkinson (born 5 November 1973) is a former New Zealand footballer who served as general manager and President of Soccer for the Portland Timbers from 2009 to 2022. Prior to this position, Wilkinson was manager of Portland Timbers in th ...

(who also held the same role for the Thorns until stepping aside in 2021), and president Mike Golub. The report cited Wilkinson's treatment of a former Thorns player and endorsement of disgraced ex-coach Paul Riley—who was accused of sexual abuse by multiple players—as well as Golub's sexually inappropriate conduct toward another former Thorns coach and Paulson's failure to act upon these accusations. The report led to Paulson stating he would recuse himself, Wilkinson and Golub of Thorns duties. On October 5, the club fired both Wilkinson and Golub, with

Ned Grabavoy Ned Grabavoy (born July 1, 1983) is a retired American professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. He is the technical director and lead soccer operations director for the Portland Timbers. Career Youth and College Grabavoy playe ...

assuming Timbers roster decisions in the interim. The Timbers were in position at the final matchday to qualify for the playoffs, but held off qualification to the final matchday due to losing at home against

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 ...

(which helped LAFC clinch the

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 ...

). They were eliminated by

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

in the last game of the season following a 3–1 defeat at

America First Field America First Field (formerly Rio Tinto Stadium and referred to as The RioT) is an American soccer-specific stadium in Sandy, Utah, that serves as home stadium for Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. The stadium opened on October 9, 2008, ...

, finishing the season on 46 points, one fewer than RSL.

Roster

* (HG) = Homegrown Player * (GA) = Generation Adidas Player * (DP) =

Designated Player The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee ...

* (INT) = Player using International Roster Slot * (L) = On Loan to the Timbers * (LO) = Loaned out to another club * (SEIL) = Season-ending Injury List

Player and staff transactions

In

Out

2022 MLS SuperDraft picks

Non-competitive

Preseason friendlies

The Timbers began their preseason on January 18, 2022. On January 26, 2022, the Timbers announced that the club will host a Preseason Tournament.

Competitions

Major League Soccer

Standings

= Western Conference

=Overall

=Matches

= All matches are in Pacific time

U.S. Open Cup

Top scorers

''The list is sorted by shirt number when total goals are equal.''

References

{{2022 in American soccer Portland Timbers seasons

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...