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.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Western Conference Team Stadium Capacity (Maximum) Colorado Rapids Dick's Sporting Goods Park 18,061 FC Dallas Toyota Stadium 20,500 Houston Dynamo BBVA Stadium 22,039 LA Galaxy Dignity Health Sports Park 27,000 Los Angeles FC Banc of California Stadium 22,000 Minnesota United FC Allianz Field 19,400 Portland Timbers Providence Park 25,218 Real Salt Lake Rio Tinto Stadium 20,213 San Jose Earthquakes Avaya Stadium 18,000 Seattle Sounders FC CenturyLink Field 39,419 (68,740) Sporting Kansas City Children's Mercy Park 18,467 Vancouver Whitecaps FC BC Place 22,120 (54,500)

Eastern Conference Team Stadium Capacity Atlanta United FC Mercedes-Benz Stadium 42,500 (71,000) Chicago Fire SeatGeek Stadium 20,000 FC Cincinnati Nippert Stadium 32,250 (40,000) Columbus Crew SC Mapfre Stadium 19,968 D.C. United Audi Field 20,000 Montreal Impact Saputo Stadium 20,801 New England Revolution Gillette Stadium 20,000 (65,878) New York City FC Yankee Stadium 28,743 (47,309) New York Red Bulls Red Bull Arena 25,000 Orlando City SC Exploria Stadium 25,500 Philadelphia Union Talen Energy Stadium 18,500 Toronto FC BMO Field 30,000 (36,000)

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 (bringing the total capacity to just over 25,000), 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

Team Head coach Captain Shirt sponsorAtlanta United FC American Family InsuranceChicago Fire MotorolaFC Cincinnati Mercy HealthColorado Rapids TransamericaColumbus Crew SC AcuraD.C. United LeidosFC Dallas AdvoCareHouston Dynamo MD AndersonLA Galaxy HerbalifeLos Angeles FC YouTube TVMinnesota United FC TargetMontreal Impact Bank of MontrealNew England Revolution UnitedHealthcareNew York City FC Etihad AirwaysNew York Red Bulls Red BullOrlando City SC Orlando HealthPhiladelphia Union Bimbo Bakeries USAPortland Timbers Alaska AirlinesReal Salt Lake LifeVantageSan Jose Earthquakes —Seattle Sounders FC ZulilySporting Kansas City Ivy FundsToronto FC Bank of MontrealVancouver Whitecaps FC Bell Canada

Coaching changes TeamOutgoing coachManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming coachDate of appointment Craig Dalrymple End of interim period Pre-season Marc Dos Santos FC Dallas Óscar Pareja Resigned Luchi Gonzalez Columbus Crew SC Gregg Berhalter Signed by United States Caleb Porter Atlanta United FC Tata Martino End of contract Frank de Boer LA Galaxy Dominic Kinnear End of interim period Guillermo Barros Schelotto Colorado Rapids Anthony Hudson Fired 12th in West, 24th overall Conor Casey FC Cincinnati Alan Koch 11th in East, 22nd overall Yoann Damet New England Revolution Brad Friedel 12th in East, 23rd overall Mike Lapper Mike Lapper End of interim period 12th in East, 21st overall Bruce Arena FC Cincinnati Yoann Damet 12th in East, 24th overall Ron Jans Real Salt Lake Mike Petke Fired 6th in West, 10th overall Freddy Juarez Houston Dynamo Wílmer Cabrera 9th in West, 17th overall Davy Arnaud Montreal Impact Rémi Garde 7th in East, 15th overall Wílmer Cabrera Colorado Rapids Conor Casey End of interim period 11th in West, 22nd overall Robin Fraser

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.

Conference standings

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

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

Fixtures and results

MLS Cup 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. MLS Cup took place on November 10, 2019.

Bracket

MLS Cup

Attendance

Average home attendances

Team 1 Atlanta United FC 1772,548 42,537 2 Seattle Sounders FC 1750,072 37,722 3 FC Cincinnati 1732,250 25,095 4 Portland Timbers 1725,218 25,218 5 Toronto FC 1728,989 22,651 6 LA Galaxy 1727,088 19,015 7 Orlando City SC 1725,527 22,341 8 Los Angeles FC 1722,757 22,001 9 New York City FC 1728,895 18,113 10 Minnesota United FC 1719,906 19,600 11 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1727,837 16,138 12 San Jose Earthquakes 1750,850 15,232 13 Sporting Kansas City 1719,979 17,083 14 Real Salt Lake 1720,838 15,949 15 D.C. United 1720,600 12,521 16 New York Red Bulls 1720,12811,115 17 Philadelphia Union 1719,145 12,890 18 New England Revolution 1728,602 9,422 19 Montreal Impact 1719,619 11,996 20 Houston Dynamo 1721,777 12,601 21 Columbus Crew SC 1720,865 9,687 22 FC Dallas 1719,096 11,911 23 Colorado Rapids 1716,998 10,794 24 Chicago Fire 1718,232 6,074 – Total 4088,676,10972,548 6,07421,265

Highest attendances Regular season

Rank Home team Score Away team Attendance Date Week Stadium1 Atlanta United 3–0 LA Galaxy 72,548 22 Mercedes-Benz Stadium2 Atlanta United 1–1 FC Cincinnati 70,382 2 Mercedes-Benz Stadium3 Atlanta United 1–0 Orlando City SC 68,152 11 Mercedes-Benz Stadium4 Atlanta United 3–3 New York Red Bulls 68,077 18 Mercedes-Benz Stadium5 Atlanta United 1–3 Columbus Crew SC 68,046 28 Mercedes-Benz Stadium6 Atlanta United 2–0 Chicago Fire 67,502 14 Mercedes-Benz Stadium7 San Jose Earthquakes 3–0 LA Galaxy 50,850 17 Stanford Stadium8 Seattle Sounders 1–2 Portland Timbers 50,072 20 CenturyLink Field9 Seattle Sounders 1–0 Minnesota United 47,297 31 CenturyLink Field10 Seattle Sounders 4–3 LA Galaxy 46,673 26 CenturyLink Field

Player statistics

Goals RankPlayerClubGoals1 Carlos VelaLos Angeles FC342 Zlatan IbrahimovićLA Galaxy303 Josef MartínezAtlanta United FC274 Diego RossiLos Angeles FC165 HéberNew York City FC15 Kacper PrzybyłkoPhiladelphia Union Chris WondolowskiSan Jose Earthquakes8 Kei KamaraColorado Rapids149 Mauro ManotasHouston Dynamo13 C.J. SapongChicago Fire Gyasi ZardesColumbus Crew SC

Hat-tricks

+PlayerForAgainstScoreDate Wayne RooneyD.C. UnitedReal Salt Lake5−0March 16 Krisztián NémethSporting Kansas CityMontreal Impact7−1March 30 Carlos VelaLos Angeles FCSan Jose Earthquakes5−0 Diego RossiLos Angeles FCD.C. United4−0April 6 Chris Wondolowski4San Jose EarthquakesChicago Fire4−1May 18 Johnny RussellSporting Kansas CitySeattle Sounders FC3−2May 26 Zlatan IbrahimovićLA GalaxyLos Angeles FC3−2July 19 Kei KamaraColorado RapidsMontreal Impact6−3August 3 Zlatan IbrahimovićLA GalaxySporting Kansas City7−2September 15 Alexandru MitrițăNew York City FCAtlanta United FC4−1September 25 Carlos VelaLos Angeles FCColorado Rapids3−1October 6

Assists RankPlayerClubAssists1 Maximiliano MoralezNew York City FC202 Diego ValeriPortland Timbers163 Michael BarriosFC Dallas15 Carlos VelaLos Angeles FC5 Carles GilNew England Revolution146 Cristian EspinozaSan Jose Earthquakes137 Nicolás GaitánChicago Fire12 Ján GregušMinnesota United FC Julian GresselAtlanta United FC Nicolás LodeiroSeattle Sounders FC Alejandro PozueloToronto FC

Shutouts RankPlayerClubShutouts1 Brad GuzanAtlanta United FC14 Bill HamidD.C. United3 Vito MannoneMinnesota United FC114 Stefan FreiSeattle Sounders FC10 Nick RimandoReal Salt Lake6 Tyler MillerLos Angeles FC9 Luis RoblesNew York Red Bulls8 David BinghamLA Galaxy8 Jesse GonzálezFC Dallas10 Evan BushMontreal Impact7 Sean JohnsonNew York City FC Brian RoweOrlando City SC Daniel VegaSan Jose Earthquakes

Awards Player / Team of the Week Bold denotes League Player of the Week. Italics denotes Audi Player Performance of the Week.