2019 Major League Soccer season


The 2019 Major League Soccer season was the 24th season of Major League Soccer. The regular season began on March 2, 2019 and ended on October 6. The MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 19 and concluded with MLS Cup 2019 on November 10, under a new format that included 14 teams and consisted only of single-match rounds.
FC Cincinnati joined the league as an expansion franchise, bringing the total number of clubs to 24. Minnesota United FC opened their first soccer-specific stadium, Allianz Field, on April 13.
Atlanta United FC were the defending MLS Cup champions, while New York Red Bulls were the defending Supporters' Shield winners.
Los Angeles FC won their first Supporters' Shield with an MLS single-season record 72 points, while Seattle Sounders FC won their second MLS Cup title.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

The Portland Timbers announced in late 2018 that, due to expansion construction at Providence Park, they would play the first 12 games of the 2019 season on the road. The construction, which added about 4000 seats, also included a completely remodeled east side of the stadium, an updated concourse and concession stands on the west side of the stadium, a new scoreboard, ribbon boards and video board, and new turf. The stadium was expected to be ready to host MLS games in May or June 2019. The first home game for Portland in their renovated stadium was held on June 1, 2019, against Los Angeles FC.
Two stadiums were renamed during the season. First, on June 4, Exploria Resorts acquired the naming rights to Orlando City Stadium, which was accordingly renamed Exploria Stadium. Then, on June 13, the U.S. arm of the Spanish multinational bank BBVA announced a rebranding of the U.S. operations from "BBVA Compass" to "BBVA". As part of the rebranding, BBVA Compass Stadium became simply BBVA Stadium.

Personnel and sponsorship

TeamHead coachCaptainShirt sponsor
Atlanta United FC American Family Insurance
Chicago Fire Motorola
FC Cincinnati Mercy Health
Colorado Rapids Transamerica
Columbus Crew SC Acura
D.C. United Leidos
FC Dallas AdvoCare
Houston Dynamo MD Anderson
LA Galaxy Herbalife
Los Angeles FC YouTube TV
Minnesota United FC Target
Montreal Impact Bank of Montreal
New England Revolution UnitedHealthcare
New York City FC Etihad Airways
New York Red Bulls Red Bull
Orlando City SC Orlando Health
Philadelphia Union Bimbo Bakeries USA
Portland Timbers Alaska Airlines
Real Salt Lake LifeVantage
San Jose Earthquakes —
Seattle Sounders FC Zulily
Sporting Kansas City Ivy Funds
Toronto FC Bank of Montreal
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Bell Canada

Coaching changes

Regular season

Format

Each club played 34 games, including 17 home games and 17 away games. Teams faced each of their conference opponents twice during the season and non-conference opponents once. Half of the conference games were played at home, and half of the non-conference games were played away from home.

Conference standings

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Overall table

The leading team in this table wins the Supporters Shield.

Fixtures and results

Playoffs

Format

The MLS Cup Playoffs were expanded from 12 teams to 14 for the 2019 season, eliminating the use of two-legged series and re-seeding in favor of a shorter playoff format. The top seven teams in each conference advanced to a single elimination bracket, with the top team in each conference earning a first round bye. The MLS Cup Final took place on November 10, 2019.

Bracket

Attendance

Average home attendances

Team
1Atlanta United FC1772,54842,537
2Seattle Sounders FC1750,07237,722
3FC Cincinnati1732,25025,095
4Portland Timbers1725,21825,218
5Toronto FC1728,98922,651
6LA Galaxy1727,08819,015
7Orlando City SC1725,52722,341
8Los Angeles FC1722,75722,001
9New York City FC1728,89518,113
10Minnesota United FC1719,90619,600
11Vancouver Whitecaps FC1727,83716,138
12San Jose Earthquakes1750,85015,232
13Sporting Kansas City1719,97917,083
14Real Salt Lake1720,83815,949
15D.C. United1720,60012,521
16New York Red Bulls1720,12811,115
17Philadelphia Union1719,14512,890
18New England Revolution1728,6029,422
19Montreal Impact1719,61911,996
20Houston Dynamo1721,77712,601
21Columbus Crew SC1720,8659,687
22FC Dallas1719,09611,911
23Colorado Rapids1716,99810,794
24Chicago Fire1718,2326,074
–Total4088,676,10972,5486,07421,265

Highest attendances

Regular season
RankHome teamScoreAway teamAttendanceDateWeekStadium
1Atlanta United3–0LA Galaxy72,54822Mercedes-Benz Stadium
2Atlanta United1–1FC Cincinnati70,3822Mercedes-Benz Stadium
3Atlanta United1–0Orlando City SC68,15211Mercedes-Benz Stadium
4Atlanta United3–3New York Red Bulls68,07718Mercedes-Benz Stadium
5Atlanta United1–3Columbus Crew SC68,04628Mercedes-Benz Stadium
6Atlanta United2–0Chicago Fire67,50214Mercedes-Benz Stadium
7San Jose Earthquakes3–0LA Galaxy50,85017Stanford Stadium
8Seattle Sounders1–2Portland Timbers50,07220CenturyLink Field
9Seattle Sounders1–0Minnesota United47,29731CenturyLink Field
10Seattle Sounders4–3LA Galaxy46,67326CenturyLink Field

Player statistics

Goals

Assists

Shutouts

Hat-tricks

PlayerForAgainstScoreDate
Wayne RooneyD.C. UnitedReal Salt Lake5−0March 16
Krisztián NémethSporting Kansas CityMontreal Impact7−1March 30
Carlos VelaLos Angeles FCSan Jose Earthquakes5−0March 30
Diego RossiLos Angeles FCD.C. United4−0April 6
Chris Wondolowski4San Jose EarthquakesChicago Fire4−1May 18
Johnny RussellSporting Kansas CitySeattle Sounders FC3−2May 26
Zlatan IbrahimovićLA GalaxyLos Angeles FC3−2July 19
Kei KamaraColorado RapidsMontreal Impact6−3August 3
Zlatan IbrahimovićLA GalaxySporting Kansas City7−2September 15
Alexandru MitrițăNew York City FCAtlanta United FC4−1September 25
Carlos VelaLos Angeles FCColorado Rapids3−1October 6

4 Scored 4 goals

Awards

Player of the Month

MonthPlayerClubStatsRef
March Carlos VelaLos Angeles FC5 GP, 6 G, 3 A
April Carlos VelaLos Angeles FC5 GP, 5 G, 2 A
May Chris WondolowskiSan Jose Earthquakes2 GP, 6 G
June Maximiliano MoralezNew York City FC3 GP, 3 G, 6 A
July Josef MartínezAtlanta United FC5 GP, 7 G
August Josef MartínezAtlanta United FC5 GP, 6 G
September Carlos VelaLos Angeles FC5 GP, 7 G

Player / Team of the Week

End of season awards

[MLS Best XI]

Player transfers

SuperDraft

The MLS SuperDraft is an annual event, taking place in January of each year, in which the teams of Major League Soccer select players who have graduated from college or otherwise been signed by the league. The first two rounds of 2019 MLS SuperDraft were held on January 11 in Chicago. Rounds three and four of the 2019 SuperDraft were held via a conference call on January 14. FC Cincinnati selected Frankie Amaya with the first overall pick.

Allocation ranking

The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a player who is in the MLS allocation list. The MLS allocation list contains select U.S. National Team players and players transferred outside of MLS garnering a transfer fee of at least $500,000. The allocations are ranked in reverse order of finish for the 2018 season, taking playoff performance into account. As an expansion team, FC Cincinnati took the top spot.
Once the club uses its allocation ranking to acquire a player, it drops to the bottom of the list. A ranking can be traded provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club's ranking. At all times each club is assigned one ranking. The rankings reset at the end of each MLS season.
Original
ranking		Current
ranking		ClubDate allocation used
Player signedPrevious clubRef
21San Jose Earthquakes
72Minnesota United
83Houston Dynamo
94New England Revolution
55Chicago Fire
116Vancouver Whitecaps
37Orlando City
138Philadelphia Union
49Colorado Rapids
1510FC Dallas
1611Los Angeles FC
1712Real Salt Lake
1813Columbus Crew
1914New York City FC
2015Seattle Sounders
2116Sporting Kansas City
2217New York Red Bulls
2318Portland Timbers
2419Atlanta United
120FC Cincinnati
1221LA GalaxyApril 11, 2019 Giancarlo González Bologna
622Toronto FCDecember 27, 2018 Laurent Ciman Dijon
622Toronto FCJuly 9, 2019 Omar Gonzalez Pachuca
1423D.C. UnitedAugust 7, 2019 Ola Kamara Shenzhen F.C.
1024Montreal ImpactAugust 7, 2019 Ballou Tabla Barcelona B