The 2013 Major League Soccer season was the 18th season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 101st season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 35th with a national first-division league.
The regular season began on March 2 and concluded on October 27. The New York Red Bulls won their first ever Supporters' Shield. The MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 31 and ended on December 7, when Sporting Kansas City won MLS Cup in a penalty shootout over Real Salt Lake. It was the third MLS Cup to be decided on penalties.
Teams, stadiums, and personnel
Stadiums and locations
Chicago Fire Chivas USA/ Los Angeles Galaxy Colorado Rapids Columbus Crew D.C. United FC Dallas Toyota Park StubHub Center Dick's Sporting Goods Park Crew Stadium RFK Memorial Stadium Toyota Stadium Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 27,000 Capacity: 18,086 Capacity: 20,145 Capacity: 19,467† Capacity: 21,193
Houston Dynamo Montreal Impact New England Revolution New York Red Bulls Philadelphia Union Portland Timbers BBVA Compass Stadium Saputo Stadium Gillette Stadium Red Bull Arena PPL Park Providence Park Capacity: 22,000 Capacity: 20,341 Capacity: 22,385† Capacity: 25,189 Capacity: 18,500 Capacity: 20,323
Real Salt Lake San Jose Earthquakes Seattle Sounders FC Sporting Kansas City Toronto FC Vancouver Whitecaps FC Rio Tinto Stadium Buck Shaw Stadium CenturyLink Field Sporting Park BMO Field BC Place Capacity: 20,213 Capacity: 10,525 Capacity: 38,500† Capacity: 18,467 Capacity: 21,859 Capacity: 21,000† †Actual capacity is higher; seats rationed for soccer games
Personnel and sponsorships
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Team Head coach Captain Shirt sponsorChicago Fire QuakerChivas USA CoronaColorado Rapids Drew Moor —Columbus Crew BarbasolD.C. United VolkswagenFC Dallas AdvoCareHouston Dynamo —LA Galaxy HerbalifeMontreal Impact Bank of MontrealNew England Revolution UnitedHealthcareNew York Red Bulls Red BullPhiladelphia Union BimboPortland Timbers Alaska AirlinesReal Salt Lake XanGoSan Jose Earthquakes —Seattle Sounders FC XboxSporting Kansas City Ivy FundsToronto FC Bank of MontrealVancouver Whitecaps FC Bell Canada
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointment Montreal Impact Mutual consent Nov 3, 2012Preseason Jan 6, 2013 Chivas USA Fired Nov 9, 2012 Dec 12, 2012 New York Red Bulls End of contract Nov 9, 2012 Jan 24, 2013 Portland Timbers End of interim period Nov 26, 2012 Nov 26, 2012 Toronto FC Fired Jan 7, 2013 Jan 7, 2013 Chivas USA Mutual consent May 30, 2013 16th May 30, 2013 San Jose Earthquakes Mutual consent Jun 7, 2013 15th Jun 7, 2013 Columbus Crew Fired Sep 2, 2013 16th Sep 2, 2013 FC Dallas Schellas Hyndman Resigned Oct 26, 2013 16th / Postseason Vacancy Vacancy Vancouver Whitecaps Martin Rennie Fired Oct 29, 2013 13th / Postseason Vacancy Vacancy Chicago Fire Frank Klopas Resigned Oct 30, 2013 12th / Postseason Oct 31, 2013Columbus Crew End of interim periodNov 6, 2013 16th / Postseason Nov 6, 2013Chivas USA End of interim periodNov 25, 2013 18th / Postseason Vacancy Vacancy
Player transfers
Major League Soccer employs 12 methods to acquire players. These include: signing players on transfers/free transfers as is done in most of the world; via trades; drafting players through mechanisms such as the MLS SuperDraft, MLS Supplemental Draft, or MLS Re-Entry Draft; rarely used methods which cover extreme hardship and injury replacement; signing players as Designated Players or Homegrown Players; placing a discovery claim on players; waivers; and methods peculiar to MLS such as through allocation or a weighted lottery.
Allocation ranking The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the League after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. The allocation rankings may also be used in the event two or more clubs file a request for the same player on the same day. The allocations will be ranked in reverse order of finish for the 2012 season, taking playoff performance into account.
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 League season.
Original rankingClubDate allocation usedPlayer signedPlayer nationPrevious clubClub nationRef 1 Chivas USA July 1, 2013 Carlos Bocanegra Rangers 2 Portland Timbers 3 Seattle Sounders FC 4 New England Revolution 5 Philadelphia Union 6 Colorado Rapids 7 FC Dallas 8 Montreal Impact 9 Columbus Crew 10 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 11 Chicago Fire 12 Real Salt Lake 13 New York Red Bulls 14 Sporting Kansas City 15 San Jose Earthquakes 16 Toronto FC 17 D.C. United February 20, 2013 Carlos Ruiz Municipal 18 Houston Dynamo 19 Los Angeles Galaxy
On December 12, 2012, Portland Timbers acquired the number 2 ranking from Chivas USA in exchange for the number 3 ranking and an international roster spot.
On February 19, 2013, Chivas USA traded the No. 3 ranking to Seattle Sounders FC in the Shalrie Joseph trade. It was also reported that Seattle sent the No. 15 allocation ranking to Chivas USA as part of the deal, although Seattle appeared to have owned the No. 16 selection and not the No. 15 selection.
On July 1, 2013, Chivas USA acquired the number 1 allocation ranking from Toronto FC in exchange for the #16 ranking, a first-round pick in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft, and an international roster spot.
Weighted lottery Some players are assigned to MLS teams via a weighted lottery process. A team can only acquire one player per year through a weighted lottery. The players made available through lotteries include: (i) Generation adidas players signed after the MLS SuperDraft; and (ii) Draft eligible players to whom an MLS contract was offered but who failed to sign with the League prior to the SuperDraft.
The team with the worst record over its last 30 regular season games (dating back to previous season if necessary and taking playoff performance into account) will have the greatest probability of winning the lottery. Teams are not required to participate in a lottery. Players are assigned via the lottery system in order to prevent a player from potentially influencing his destination club with a strategic holdout.
Below are the results of 2013 weighted lotteries:
Lottery datePlayerPlayer nationPositionWinning clubOther clubs participatingRef December 18, 2012 Mobi Fehr DF Portland Timbers Seattle Sounders FC, San Jose Earthquakes December 20, 2012 Gale Agbossoumonde DF Toronto FC FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, Seattle Sounders FC, Los Angeles Galaxy, San Jose Earthquakes January 25, 2013 Charles Eloundou FW Colorado Rapids Real Salt Lake, D.C. United July 18, 2013 Conor Doyle FW D.C. United Colorado Rapids
Ownership changes Club New owner Previous owner Date Real Salt Lake Dell Loy Hansen Dave Checketts Columbus Crew Anthony Precourt Clark Hunt
Regular season
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
Overall standings
MLS Cup playoffs
Bracket
Player statistics Goals Rank Player Club Goals1 Camilo SanvezzoVancouver Whitecaps FC222 Mike MageeLA Galaxy, Chicago Fire213 Marco Di VaioMontreal Impact204 Robbie KeaneLA Galaxy165 Diego FagúndezNew England Revolution13 Dominic OduroColumbus Crew7 Jack McInerneyPhiladelphia Union12 Álvaro SaboríoReal Salt Lake9 Tim CahillNew York Red Bulls11 Federico HiguaínColumbus Crew Blas PérezFC Dallas Chris WondolowskiSan Jose Earthquakes
Assists Rank Player Club Assists1 Diego ValeriPortland Timbers132 Sébastien Le TouxPhiladelphia Union123 Robbie KeaneLA Galaxy114 Javier MoralesReal Salt Lake105 Brad DavisHouston Dynamo9 Landon DonovanLA Galaxy David FerreiraFC Dallas Thierry HenryNew York Red Bulls Federico HiguaínColumbus Crew Russell TeibertVancouver Whitecaps FC
Clean sheets RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 Donovan RickettsPortland Timbers142 Jimmy NielsenSporting Kansas City133 Zac MacMathPhiladelphia Union124 Luis RoblesNew York Red Bulls115 Michael GspurningSeattle Sounders FC106 Jon BuschSan Jose Earthquakes9 Tally HallHouston Dynamo Nick RimandoReal Salt Lake Bobby ShuttleworthNew England Revolution10 Troy PerkinsMontreal Impact8
Awards
Individual awards AwardPlayerClubMost Valuable Player Mike MageeLA Galaxy,Chicago FireDefender of the Year José GonçalvesNew England RevolutionGoalkeeper of the Year Donovan RickettsPortland TimbersCoach of the Year Caleb PorterPortland TimbersRookie of the Year Dillon PowersColorado RapidsNewcomer of the Year Diego ValeriPortland TimbersComeback Player of the Year Kevin AlstonNew England RevolutionGolden Boot Camilo SanvezzoVancouver Whitecaps FCFair Play Award Darlington NagbePortland TimbersHumanitarian of the Year Matt ReisNew England RevolutionGoal of the Year Camilo SanvezzoVancouver Whitecaps FCSave of the Year Nick Rimando Real Salt Lake
Best XI GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards Donovan Ricketts, Portland Matt Besler, Sporting KC José Gonçalves, New England Omar Gonzalez, LA Galaxy Tim Cahill, New York Will Johnson, Portland Diego Valeri, Portland Graham Zusi, Sporting KC Marco Di Vaio, Montreal Robbie Keane, LA Galaxy Mike Magee, LA Galaxy/Chicago
Monthly awards WeekMLS Player of the MonthMLS WORKS Humanitarian of the MonthPlayerNatClubLinkPlayer/ClubNatClubLinkMarchMike Magee Los Angeles Galaxy5G 0A Jeb Brovsky Montreal Impact AprilJack McInerney USAPhiladelphia Union4G 0A Calen Carr USAHouston Dynamo MayJack McInerney USAPhiladelphia Union3G 0A Portland Timbers USAPortland TimbersJuneMike Magee USAChicago Fire4G 1A Jon Busch USASan Jose Earthquakes JulyCamiloVancouver Whitecaps FC4G 0A Gonzalo SegaresChicago Fire AugustRobbie KeaneLos Angeles Galaxy5G 1A Lamar Neagle USASeattle Sounders FC SeptemberDominic OduroColumbus Crew3G 2A Matt Lampson USAColumbus Crew OctoberCamilo BRAVancouver Whitecaps FC6G 1A Dwayne De RosarioD.C. United
Weekly awards