Major League Soccer

Although Major League Soccer (MLS) was founded in 1993, the first 10 teams to enter the MLS didn’t play in the United States until 1996. The MLS was founded in order for the United States to place a bid for the 1994 World Cup. The first ten teams to play were the Columbus Crew, D.C. United, the New England Revolution, the NY/NJ MetroStars (Now the NY Red Bulls), the Tampa Bay Mutiny (no longer in the MLS), the Colorado Rapids, the Dallas Burn (now FC Dallas), the Kansas City Wiz (now Sporting Kansas City), the Los Angeles Galaxy and the San Jose Clash (now the San Jose Earthquakes).

The MLS is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation and currently follows the IFAB rules and standards which are published by the governing body of FIFA. Since 1996 the MLS has grown from 10 teams to 19 teams starting in 2012. The league is made up of the Eastern and Western Conferences who play from March through October.

The Eastern Conference consists of the Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew, D.C. United, Houston Dynamo, New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls, Philadelphia Union, Sporting Kansas City, and Toronto FC

The Western Conference consists of Chivas USA, Colorado Rapids, FC Dallas, Los Angeles Galaxy, Portland Timbers, Real Salt Lake, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders FC, Vancouver Whitecaps FC

To learn more about each individual team you can go the the MLS website and click onto their logo at the top of the page.