MLS Next Pro is a men's 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 that is affiliated with Major League Soccer. It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and will expand to 28 in 2023. The league comprises 27 reserve sides for MLS clubs and the independent

Rochester New York FC Rochester New York FC, formerly known as the Rochester Rhinos, are an American professional soccer team based in Rochester, New York, United States. Founded in 1996, as the Rochester Raging Rhinos, they changed their name to Rochester Rhinos t ...

. MLS Next Pro is classified as part of the third tier of the

United States soccer league system The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by the system of prom ...

History

On June 21, 2021, Major League Soccer announced the creation of a new professional league which would begin play in 2022. MLS has applied to the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

for the league to be sanctioned as a Division III professional league, the same level currently occupied by

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019. The Division III league is operated by United Soccer League, the same group that operates the Division II USL Championshi ...

and the

National Independent Soccer Association The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States. The league is in the third tier of American soccer and began play in 2019. NISA initially used a fall-to-spring season format with a ...

and one level below the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

. MLS announced that Next Pro would start with at least 20 teams, many of them owned by Major League Soccer and development teams between their first-teams and their youth academies. All MLS clubs with reserve teams in

will be moving those sides to MLS Next Pro by 2023. The inaugural match of MLS Next Pro was played on March 25, 2022, at

Hermann Stadium Hermann Stadium, or fully, Robert R. Hermann Stadium is located in Midtown St. Louis, Midtown St. Louis, Missouri, on the campus of Saint Louis University. The first game played was August 21, 1999. This is where both the Billiken Saint Louis Bil ...

in St. Louis.

St. Louis City SC 2 St Louis City SC 2, often shortened to St Louis City 2 or City2 (stylized as CITY2), is an American professional soccer team that is located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is the reserve team of St. Louis City SC and participates in MLS Next Pro. T ...

defeated

2–0.

Wan Kuzain Wan Kuzain bin Wan Kamal (born September 14, 1998) is an American professional soccer player who currently plays for MLS Next Pro side St. Louis City SC 2 and has played for the United States at the under-17 level. Career Early Born and ...

scored the first ever goal in the 20th minute. On July 6, 2022, new rules for the league were introduced in the middle of its inaugural season. This included an off-field treatment rule meant to curb gamesmanship and timewasting and a new rule for red card suspensions: The suspension a player gets for getting a red card or 2 yellow cards in the same game will be served by the player when next playing against the same opponent. This is in addition to other rules that have been implemented, including all regular season draws being decided by penalty shootouts and the addition of concussion substitutions.

Competition format

The league runs from spring to fall with the first season kicking off in March. Each team plays 24 regular-season games, which will be followed by an 8-team playoff tournament. The league is divided into Eastern and Western Conferences. Unlike Major League Soccer, MLS Next Pro does not feature a salary cap, and player contracts are held by the teams and not by the league. Team rosters can have up to 24 professional players (not including amateur academy players) with a maximum of seven international players. An MLS Next Pro club's active roster contains up to 35 players, all of whom are eligible for selection to each official match during the MLS Next Pro season.

Teams

Future teams

Champions

Finals

References

External links

* {{CONCACAF third leagues Major League Soccer 2021 establishments in the United States Professional soccer leagues in the United States Soccer leagues in Canada Sports leagues established in 2021 Summer association football leagues Multi-national professional sports leagues

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 ...

Third level association football leagues in North America