MLS

Major League Soccer was founded in 1993 as part of the United States' successful bid to host the 1994 World Cup, and played its first season in 1996 with ten clubs. It now includes clubs from both the United States and Canada.

Its structure differs from European leagues in almost every respect. MLS runs as a single entity: the clubs are owned by the league and operated by individual investors. Membership is fixed, with no promotion or relegation; the league grows by admitting expansion clubs instead.

In 2007 MLS introduced the Designated Player rule, which lets clubs pay certain players beyond the salary cap. It was the mechanism that brought David Beckham to the league, and it has been MLS's main route for signing well-known international players ever since.

The clubs are split into an Eastern Conference and a Western Conference, so the main standings are two tables, and play-off places are decided within each conference. The regular season is 34 matches per club — fewer than a full home-and-away round would need — so clubs do not all face each other the same number of times.

Scoring is the standard three points for a win and one for a draw. Finishing high in your conference brings both a play-off place and home advantage in the rounds that follow.

MLS has two honours that outsiders often confuse. The Supporters' Shield goes to the club with the best regular-season record across the whole league, regardless of conference — the closest equivalent to a European league title — and brings home advantage throughout the play-offs.

The MLS champion is decided by the MLS Cup play-offs after the regular season. Qualifiers from each conference play knockout rounds up to the MLS Cup final, so the Supporters' Shield winner is not always the MLS Cup winner.

From its first season in 1996, MLS has run on a single calendar year: starting around late February, finishing the regular season in October, then the play-offs. The league has voted to move to a European-style calendar, with a short transition season from February to May 2027, and from 2027-28 seasons will start in July and end with the play-offs in May, around a midwinter break with no matches in January.

The United States spans several time zones and observes daylight saving. Thailand is 11 or 12 hours ahead of the US East Coast and 14 or 15 ahead of the Pacific coast, so local evening kick-offs land on the following morning in Thailand, with West Coast games finishing hours after East Coast ones. Every time on this page is already converted to your own zone.

The tabs above separate fixtures with kick-off times in Thai time, results, the standings, and the league's top scorers.

Scores update on their own while matches are in progress, and opening any match shows the goalscorers with the minute each was scored.