List of Major League Soccer seasons

Major League Soccer is the premier professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. As of 2016, it consists of 20 teams: 17 in the United States and 3 in Canada. The league has played since 1996. Each year, it plays a league which determines entry into the playoffs. The league is divided into two conferences, the Eastern Conference and Western Conference. In 2000 and 2001, there was also a Central Conference. The team with the overall best regular-season record is awarded the MLS Supporters' Shield, one of three major domestic trophies in North American soccer (the others being the national championships—the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup or the Canadian Championship—and the primary trophy: the MLS Cup league championship). In 2010 and 2011, the league played as a double round robin, with each team playing each other team one home and away—creating a balanced schedule. With a prime number of teams beginning in 2012, the league has moved to an unbalanced schedule weighted towards a team's respective conference.

The postseason consists of a ten-team, four-round knockout. The top three teams in each conference reach the overall quarterfinal round, while the fourth and fifth seeded teams from either conference playoff for the last spot in that round. The final, the MLS Cup, is a single match with the winner becoming league champion of the year. Six times a team has won the league double: winning both the MLS Cup and the Supporters' Shield in the same season. This has been done by four different teams. The MLS Golden Boot is awarded each year to the player with the most goals in the regular season, and the best overall player is awarded the Most Valuable Player Award.

List of seasons

The following is a list of all MLS seasons. It contains the number of teams, the number of regular-season games played per team, the champion—winner of the MLS Cup, the winners of the regular-season Eastern Conference, the Western Conference, and for 2000 and 2001, the defunct Central Conference, the winner of the Most Valuable Player Award (MVP), the top scorer(s)—winner of the Golden Boot, and the regular-season average attendance.

dagger Winner of the Supporters' Shield
* Winner of the league double
Season Teams Games Champion Eastern Western Central MVP Top scorer Att. Ref
1996 10 32 D.C. United Tampa Bay Mutinydagger Los Angeles Galaxy — Carlos Valderrama Roy Lassiter 17,406 [1]
1997 10 32 D.C. United* D.C. Uniteddagger Kansas City Wizards — Preki Jaime Moreno 14,619 [2]
1998 12 32 Chicago Fire D.C. United Los Angeles Galaxydagger — Marco Etcheverry Stern John 14,312 [3]
1999 12 32 D.C. United* D.C. Uniteddagger Los Angeles Galaxy — Jason Kreis Jason Kreis 14,282 [4]
2000 12 32 Kansas City Wizards* MetroStars Kansas City Wizardsdagger Chicago Fire Tony Meola Mamadou Diallo 13,756 [5]
2001 12 26–27 San Jose Earthquakes Miami Fusion F.C.dagger Los Angeles Galaxy Chicago Fire Alex Pineda Chacón Alex Pineda Chacón 14,961 [6]
2002 10 28 Los Angeles Galaxy* New England Revolution Los Angeles Galaxydagger — Carlos Ruiz Carlos Ruiz 15,822 [7]
2003 10 30 San Jose Earthquakes Chicago Firedagger San Jose Earthquakes — Preki Carlos Ruiz
Taylor Twellman 		14,898 [8]
2004 10 30 D.C. United Columbus Crewdagger Kansas City Wizards — Amado Guevara Eddie Johnson 15,559 [9]
2005 12 32 Los Angeles Galaxy New England Revolution San Jose Earthquakesdagger — Taylor Twellman Taylor Twellman 15,108 [10]
2006 12 32 Houston Dynamo D.C. Uniteddagger FC Dallas — Christian Gómez Jeff Cunningham 15,504 [11]
2007 13 30 Houston Dynamo D.C. Uniteddagger Chivas USA — Luciano Emílio Luciano Emílio 16,770 [12]
2008 14 30 Columbus Crew* Columbus Crewdagger Houston Dynamo — Guillermo Barros Schelotto Landon Donovan 16,460 [13]
2009 15 30 Real Salt Lake Columbus Crewdagger LA Galaxy — Landon Donovan Jeff Cunningham 16,037 [14]
2010 16 30 Colorado Rapids New York Red Bulls LA Galaxydagger — David Ferreira Chris Wondolowski 16,675 [15]
2011 18 34 LA Galaxy* Sporting Kansas City LA Galaxydagger — Dwayne De Rosario Dwayne De Rosario
Chris Wondolowski 		17,872 [16]
2012 19 34 LA Galaxy Sporting Kansas City San Jose Earthquakesdagger — Chris Wondolowski Chris Wondolowski 18,807 [17]
2013 19 34 Sporting Kansas City New York Red Bullsdagger Portland Timbers — Mike Magee Camilo Sanvezzo 18,608 [18]
2014 19 34 LA Galaxy D.C. United Seattle Soundersdagger — Robbie Keane [19] Bradley Wright-Phillips [20] 19,148 [21]
2015 20 34 Portland Timbers New York Red Bullsdagger FC Dallas — Sebastian Giovinco Sebastian Giovinco
Kei Kamara 		21,574 [22]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "1996 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  2. ↑ "1997 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  3. ↑ "1998 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  4. ↑ "1999 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  5. ↑ "2000 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  6. ↑ "2001 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  7. ↑ "2002 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  8. ↑ "2003 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  9. ↑ "2004 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  10. ↑ "2005 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  11. ↑ "2006 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  12. ↑ "2007 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  13. ↑ "2008 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  14. ↑ "2009 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  15. ↑ "2010 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  16. ↑ "2011 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 19 Feb 2014.
  17. ↑ "2012 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 19 Feb 2014.
  18. ↑ "2013 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 19 Feb 2014.
  19. ↑ "Robbie Keane voted 2014 MLS Most Valuable Player". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 24 Jan 2015.
  20. ↑ "2014 Season Statistics". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 Jan 2015.
  21. ↑ "2014 Year in Review". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 Jan 2015.
  22. ↑ "2015 Full Season Stats". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 25 Mar 2016.
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