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1998 Major League Soccer Season
The 1998 Major League Soccer season was the third season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 86th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 20th with a national first-division league. The Chicago Fire and Miami Fusion played their inaugural seasons as the league's first two expansion teams. The NY/NJ MetroStars dropped the New York/New Jersey from their name and rebranded as just MetroStars, with no city, state or regional name attached to it. The regular season began on March 15, and concluded on September 27. The MLS Cup Playoffs began on September 30, and concluded with MLS Cup on October 25. Chicago became the first expansion team to win MLS Cup and the first to win it in its inaugural season. Overview Season format The season began on March 15 and concluded with MLS Cup on October 25. The 12 teams were split evenly into two conferences. Each team played 32 games that were evenly divided between home and away. Each team played every other tea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago Fire (soccer)
Chicago Fire Football Club is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Chicago. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The Fire play their home games at Soldier Field, which they share with the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). The franchise, named in memory of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, was founded as the Chicago Fire Soccer Club on October 8, 1997, the Great Fire's 126th anniversary. The team began play in 1998 as one of the league's first expansion teams. The Fire won the MLS Cup as well as the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, U.S. Open Cup (the Double (association football), "double") in their first season in 1998. They also won U.S. Open Cups in 2000, 2003, and 2006, in addition to the 2003 MLS Supporters' Shield. Although finishing near the bottom of the league consistently, Chicago Fire FC is valued at over $500 million. The club maintains an extensive d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbus Crew
The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 charter clubs of the league. The Crew are currently operated by an ownership group led by the Haslam family (also owners of the Cleveland Browns and Pilot Company, Pilot Corporation) and former team physician Pete Edwards. The Haslam/Edwards group is the third ownership group in club history. The franchise was founded in 1994. Its stadium is Lower.com Field, opened in 2021. From 1999 to 2021, the Crew played home games at Historic Crew Stadium (formerly Mapfre Stadium and Columbus Crew Stadium), the first soccer-specific stadium built for an MLS team, with a seating capacity of 19,968 as of the 2015 season. From 1996 to 1998, the Crew played its home games at Ohio Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University. In 2023, the team set club atte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soldier Field
Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side, Chicago, Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears from the National Football League (NFL) since 1971, as well as Chicago Fire FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) from 1998 to 2006 and since 2020. It also regularly hosts stadium concerts and other large crowd events. The stadium has a football capacity of 62,500, making it the List of current National Football League stadiums, smallest stadium in the NFL. Soldier Field is also the oldest stadium established in the NFL and 3rd oldest in MLS. The stadium's interior was rebuilt as part of a major renovation project in 2002, which modernized the facility but lowered its seating capacity, eventually causing it to be delisted as a National Historic Landmark in 2006. Soldier Field has served as the home venue for a number of other sports teams in its history, includin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago Fire FC
Chicago Fire Football Club is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Chicago. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The Fire play their home games at Soldier Field, which they share with the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). The franchise, named in memory of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, was founded as the Chicago Fire Soccer Club on October 8, 1997, the Great Fire's 126th anniversary. The team began play in 1998 as one of the league's first expansion teams. The Fire won the MLS Cup as well as the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, U.S. Open Cup (the Double (association football), "double") in their first season in 1998. They also won U.S. Open Cups in 2000, 2003, and 2006, in addition to the 2003 MLS Supporters' Shield. Although finishing near the bottom of the league consistently, Chicago Fire FC is valued at over $500 million. The club maintains an extensive d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MLS Cup
MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference Final. The MLS Cup winner is awarded the title of league champion. MLS uses a playoff tournament following the regular season to determine its annual league champion, a method used by other major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. This format differs from most soccer leagues around the world, which consider the club with the most points at the end of the season to be the champion; MLS honors that achievement with the Supporters' Shield. The winner of MLS Cup is awarded one of the country's four berths in the following season's CONCACAF Champions Cup. The three Canadian teams of MLS do the same in addition to the zonal competition, the Leagues Cup, or with victory in the lock-out based Canadian Championship— ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MLS 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 1999 (with the winners between 1996 and 1998 awarded retroactively), and has been recognized as a major trophy by the league. It echoes the practice of the top European leagues in which the team with the best record is the champion. Since 2006, the Supporters' Shield winner has earned a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. D.C. United and LA Galaxy, with four Supporters' Shields each, have won the most shields of any MLS team. Inter Miami CF are the 2024 holders of the Supporters' Shield, winning it for the first time. Inter Miami CF currently holds the record for the most points in a regular season, with 74 in the 2024 Major League Soccer season, 2024 campaign. History Conception and fundraising When Major League Soccer had its inaugu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Away Goals Rule
The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that has scored more goals " away from home" wins the tiebreaker. This is sometimes expressed by saying that away goals "count double" in the event of a tie, though in practice the team with more away goals is simply recorded as the victor, rather than having additional or 'double' goals added to their total. The away goals rule is most often invoked in two-leg fixtures, where the initial result is determined by the aggregate score — i.e. the scores of both games are added together. In many competitions, the away goals rule is the first tie-breaker in such cases, with a penalty shootout as the second tie-breaker if each team has scored the same number of away goals. Rules vary as to whether the away goals rule applies only to the end of no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MLS Cup 1998
MLS Cup 1998 was the third edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States. It took place on October 25, 1998, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, with an attendance of 51,350 people. The final was contested by two-time reigning champions D.C. United and the Chicago Fire, the first expansion team to reach the final. Chicago won the match 2–0, with goals scored by Jerzy Podbrożny and Diego Gutiérrez in the first half. Chicago became the first expansion team to win the MLS Cup and the second to complete a domestic double by winning the U.S. Open Cup. D.C. in turn became the first team to reach three consecutive finals, which would be their last under manager Bruce Arena. The match was broadcast nationally on ABC, where it was watched by an estimated 1 million households. As the top two finishers in the MLS Cup Playoffs, both D.C. and Chicago qualified for the 1999 CONCACAF Champions' Cup. The clubs faced off on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miami Fusion F
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a population of 6.14 million, is the second-largest metropolitan area in the Southeastern United States, Southeast after Atlanta metropolitan area, Atlanta, and the Metropolitan statistical area#United States, ninth-largest in the United States. With a population of 442,241 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Miami is the List of municipalities in Florida, second-most populous city in Florida, after Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville. Miami has the List of tallest buildings in the United States#Cities with the most skyscrapers, third-largest skyline in the U.S. with over List of tallest buildings in Miami, 300 high-rises, 70 of which exceed . Miami is a major center and leader in finance, commerce, culture, arts, and internation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago Fire Soccer Club
Chicago Fire Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Chicago. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The Fire play their home games at Soldier Field, which they share with the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). The franchise, named in memory of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, was founded as the Chicago Fire Soccer Club on October 8, 1997, the Great Fire's 126th anniversary. The team began play in 1998 as one of the league's first expansion teams. The Fire won the MLS Cup as well as the U.S. Open Cup (the "double") in their first season in 1998. They also won U.S. Open Cups in 2000, 2003, and 2006, in addition to the 2003 MLS Supporters' Shield. Although finishing near the bottom of the league consistently, Chicago Fire FC is valued at over $500 million. The club maintains an extensive development system, consisting of the Chicago Fire Development Academy and the Chicago Fire Juniors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation. MLS is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The league is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The predecessor of MLS was the North American Soccer League (1968–84), North American Soccer League (NASL), which existed from 1968 until 1984. MLS was founded in 1993 as part of the United States' successful bid to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The 1996 Major League Soccer season, inaugural season took place in 1996 with ten teams. MLS experienced financial and operational struggles in its first few years, losing millions of dollars and folding two teams in 2002. Since then, developments such as the proliferation of soccer-specific stadiums around the league ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
