MLS Cup

MLS Cup History

The first championship tournament to award the best team in Major League Soccer was played in heavy rain, remnants of Hurricane Lili, in 1996 at the since-demolished Foxboro Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

In that first game, D.C. United beat the Los Angeles Galaxy, 3-2, in overtime play.

Those two teams are, coincidentally, also the winningest in MLS Cup history.

The LA Galaxy has made the most appearances with nine, winning the MLS Cup five times.

Meanwhile, D.C. United has the highest winning percentage, having won four of the five times they played for the Cup.

Those winning teams are also responsible for the two most used championship venues. Since its beginnings in 1996, seven matches for the MLS Cup have played in the Los Angeles area, home of the LA Galaxy. The next venue with the most matches played is RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., home of D.C. United.

The Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the championship game is usually given either to the player who scores or sets up the winning goal or the goalkeeper who prevents the other team’s winning goal.

The Teams

The MLS season begins in March and ends in October. The MLS Cup Playoffs usually start in late October with the MLS Cup Championship game played in December. Although fans won’t know until the championship playoffs end where their journey to the MLS Cup Championship will take them, here are the teams representing the cities with MLS franchises:

Eastern Conference

Atlanta United FC (Football Club)
Chicago Fire
Columbus Crew SC (Soccer Club)
D.C. United
Montreal Impact
New England Revolution
New York City FC
New York Red Bulls
Orlando City SC
Philadelphia Union
Toronto FC

Western Conference

Colorado Rapids
FC Dallas
Houston Dynamo
LA Galaxy
Minnesota United FC
Portland Timbers
Real Salt Lake
San Jose Earthquakes
Seattle Sounders FC
Sporting Kansas City
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Los Angeles FC

Paramount Business Jets can arrange a charter flight into airports near any of those cities.

MLS Trivia

Even though players in the MLS league are from the U.S., Canada and 60 other countries, two-thirds of them come from the United States.
Sixteen sets of brothers have played in MLS history.
The first MLS team to play in a soccer-specific stadium was the Columbus Crew’s Mapfre Stadium (originally called the Columbus Crew Stadium). The year was 1999.
The nickname, Big Mama, was given to Tampa Bay Mutiny forward, Mamadou Diallo, in 2000.
Yugoslavia-born Predrag Radosavljevic, known as “Preki,” is the only player to win the MLS Cup MVP award twice. From 1996-2000, as a player on the Kansas City Wiz (now called Sporting Kansas City), he not only won the two MVP awards, he also won two Golden Boot awards and scored 50 goals.
Want to learn more? Play a fun interactive MLS trivial game here.

Picture 1 Source: Wikimedia

Picture 2 Source