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.
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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 FCsortname|Frank|de Boer

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.

Overall table

The leading team in this table wins the Supporters' Shield.

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.

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

Hat-tricks

PlayerForAgainstScoreDate

Awards

Player / Team of the Week

Bold denotes League Player of the Week.Italics denotes Audi Player Performance of the Week.

Player of the Month

MonthPlayerClubStatsRef
March

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 FC
83Houston Dynamo
94New England Revolution
55Chicago Fire
116Vancouver Whitecaps FC
37Orlando City SC
138Philadelphia Union
49Colorado Rapids
1510FC Dallas
1611Los Angeles FC
1712Real Salt Lake
1813Columbus Crew
1914New York City FC
2015Seattle Sounders FC
2116Sporting Kansas City
2217New York Red Bulls
2318Portland Timbers
2419Atlanta United FC
120FC Cincinnati
1221LA GalaxyApril 11, 2019 fbaicon|ITACref2|A|group=2Cref2|B|group=2Cref2|C|group=2Cref2|E|group=2