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, 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 League if they are an American-based team.
D.C. United and LA Galaxy, with four Supporters' Shields each, have won the most shields of any MLS team. Los Angeles FC are the 2019 holders of the Supporters' Shield, winning it for the first time.

History

Conception and fundraising

When Major League Soccer had its inaugural season in 1996, the league resembled its contemporary North American leagues. After the regular season, the campaign culminated with the MLS Cup Playoffs, en route to the postseason championship match, the MLS Cup. The club with the best regular season record received nothing more than the top seed in the playoffs.
In 1997, soccer fan Nick Lawrus on a listserv proposed the notion of a "Supporters' Scudetto", as a result of the Tampa Bay Mutiny earning the best regular season record but failing to win the 1996 MLS Cup final. A committee composed of members of all MLS teams' supporters changed the name to "Supporters' Shield" but, due to disagreements between members of the committee, the proposal failed to come to fruition.
The following year, another group led by soccer enthusiast Sam Pierron tried to revive the idea by giving an award to the regular season champions. Since MLS refused to fund the idea, Pierron began fundraising to purchase a trophy with the help of supporters from various MLS clubs. Fundraising was boosted with donations from ESPN commentator Phil Schoen and MLS commissioner Doug Logan. In the end, nearly $3,000 was donated to commission the trophy, which was a chevron made by artist Paula Richardson out of sterling silver sheet metal, for $2,200.
The process to create and purchase the Supporters' Shield was not completed until the tail end of the 1999 season. While D.C. United were the first MLS club to win the award, the first place finishes between 1996-1998 have all been awarded the honor retroactively, with their names included on the shield at the time of its creation.

Shield awarding and tiebreakers

Since the 2000 season, the system of awarding points in Major League Soccer is the same as the international standard, three points for a win, one for a draw, and no points for a loss. As of the 2014 season, new rules are in place for breaking ties. In the event of an end-of-season tie in total accumulated points, the following tie-breakers will be used:
of Columbus Crew, was part of the team's three Shield winning campaigns.|thumb
  1. Most wins
  2. Goal difference
  3. Goals for
  4. Fewest disciplinary points
  5. Road goals
  6. Road goal difference
  7. Home goals
  8. Home goal difference
  9. Coin toss or drawing of lots
These are standard MLS regulations for breaking ties in point totals.
Throughout the early to mid-2000s, the Shield received little praise or recognition from MLS or the general public, as the league awarded the MLS Cup winner and runner-up with spots in continental tournaments.

First Shield incentives arrive

In February 2006, USSF decided that the Supporters' Shield winner and the MLS Cup winner would represent the United States in the CONCACAF Champions League, formerly the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. If the Supporters Shield winner also wins the MLS Cup, the team with the second highest regular season point total qualifies as well.
When the Champions Cup became the CONCACAF Champions League, the United States Soccer Federation gave the Supporters' Shield winner and the MLS Cup winner both direct Group stage spots into the tournament.
On seven occasions the winner of the Supporters' Shield also won the MLS Cup that same year. In 2011, the league announced that the Shield winner's opponent in the MLS Cup quarterfinals would be the lowest-seeded team remaining.

Redesign

As the Shield began to become more prized and grow in significance along with "supporter culture" growing throughout the League, the idea of creating a new Supporters' Shield began at the MLS Supporters Summit during the 2010 MLS Cup in Toronto. The idea continued to gain traction at the then recently formed Independent Supporters Council the following two years in Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon. The Supporter's Shield Foundation was created out of the ISC meeting in Portland in 2012 with a mission to fund the creation of a new shield and to promote and manage the trophy going forward. The cost of the new Shield was quoted at $18,000 with a majority of the funds raised through the "I Support the Shield" scarf drive that culminated in the sale of 2000 supporter scarves.
With the fund raising complete, in early 2013 the new Supporter's Shield was created. The new shield weighs and is made of sterling silver and stainless steel. The outside of the shield contains a Telstar soccer ball design while the middle of the shield pays homage to the chevron design of the original trophy. The middle of the trophy was designed to be expandable as its winners' names are added to it annually around the chevron. The newly designed shield was first awarded to the New York Red Bulls on the final day of the 2013 MLS Season.

Winners

Thirteen different teams have won at least one Supporters Shield, with Los Angeles Galaxy and D.C. United level with the most wins of four each. Nine teams have gone on to win the MLS Cup after winning the Supporters Shield with both Galaxy and D.C. achieving this double twice. While three teams have secured a Supporters' Shield - U.S. Open Cup double, no American team has won a domestic treble of all three major domestic trophies, the Supporters Shield, MLS Cup and U.S. Open Cup, but in the 2017 season, Toronto FC achieved the Canadian equivalent - Supporters Shield, MLS Cup and Canadian Championship.

Records

Shield winners

TeamWinnersRunners-upYear wonYear runners-up
LA Galaxy441998, 2002, 2010, 20111996, 1999, 2009, 2014
D.C. United411997, 1999, 2006, 20071998
Columbus Crew SC302004, 2008, 2009
New York Red Bulls302013, 2015, 2018
San Jose Earthquakes222005, 20122002, 2003
Sporting Kansas City1420001997, 2004, 2012, 2013
Chicago Fire1220032000, 2001
FC Dallas1220162006, 2015
Seattle Sounders FC1120142011
Tampa Bay Mutiny101996
Miami Fusion102001
Toronto FC102017
Los Angeles FC102019
New York City FC022017, 2019
New England Revolution012005
Chivas USA012007
Houston Dynamo012008
Real Salt Lake012010
Colorado Rapids012016
Atlanta United012018

Before 2006, Shield winners were not guaranteed a berth into CONCACAF competitions. Most regular season champions to earn berths into CONCACAF competitions typically earned them from earning a berth into the MLS Cup, or earning a berth due to the number of berths allocated to the United States for MLS. Most times, the United States was allocated two berths into the tournament, which went to the MLS Cup champion and runner-up.
Since 2007, the Shield winner replaced the MLS Cup runner-up as the second American representative for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. In 2008, with the arrival of the newly formatted CONCACAF Champions League, the Shield winner, along with the MLS Cup winner both earned direct byes into the group stage of the Champions League.
A Shield winner has never reached the final of a CONCACAF competition. On three separate occasions, D.C. United has reached the tournament semifinal after winning the Shield, the furthest that any Shield winner has progressed in CONCACAF competition. United also holds the record for the earliest exit in a CONCACAF competition as the Shield winner, being eliminated from Group stage in the 2008–09 edition of the Champions League.
Key
ChampionsRunners-upThird place

Performance table
; Notes

Footnotes