MLS kicks off its final calendar year season this weekend, with Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami as the top contenders to defend the title, new stars in the league such as James Rodriguez and a two-month mid-season break during the World Cup in North America.
The match between Charlotte FC and St. Louis City this Saturday, February 21, will kick off Major League Soccer (MLS), the last edition to be played on a calendar year schedule during 2026.
Beginning in July 2027 and after a brief transitional season between February and May, the league will align its calendar to that of the major European leagues, to coincide with Europe in transfer windows and national team breaks. Here are more details on the 2026 MLS season.
Messi’s Inter Miami, favorites to defend title
We’re back at it 🔙👑
🗞️ Read all the details about our season opener against LAFC here: https://t.co/Ep12VBhGGq pic.twitter.com/7hhBpVQ2AA
– Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) February 20, 2026
Lionel Messi will once again be the main figure on which MLS will orbit, with Inter Miami trying to defend its first crown without the retired Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets.
All this in the season that the Florida franchise will debut its new home stadium, the ‘Miami Freedom Park’.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner will be joined by his close Uruguayan friend Luis Suárez, as well as the likes of Argentinian Rodrigo de Paul – permanently reinstated – and Tadeo Allende, key players in Miami’s midfield in their MLS triumph.
The team coached by Javier Mascherano, which this year is targeting the Concacaf Champions Cup (‘Concachampions’), signed Spaniard Sergio Reguilón to replace Jordi Alba, but the former Madrid player suffered a serious knee sprain in preseason that will keep him sidelined indefinitely.
Los Angeles and New York, the league’s main centers of attention
It all starts this Saturday 😤
See you at the @lacoliseum 🏟️ pic.twitter.com/oRMBWLEPTL
– LÁFC (@SomosLAFC) February 19, 2026
In both the West and East, Los Angeles and New York are the focus of their conferences with two teams in each city.
In California, Los Angeles FC will be looking to maintain their power in the West and improve on last year’s results, eliminated in the conference semifinals, with Frenchman Hugo Lloris in goal and South Korea’s Heung-min Son as the team’s undisputed leader.
Marco Reus’ LA Galaxy, champions in 2024, will be looking to bounce back from a tough season in 2025, in which they finished second to last in the West, behind only Kansas City.
The Los Angeles Angels will continue to be without Puig this season after the former Barcelona player underwent further surgery on a torn cruciate ligament in his knee.
In New York, NYCFC, who reached the East final, and the NY Red Bulls, who finished out of the playoffs, face the start of the season one step behind conference favorites Miami.
The other MLS stars
One of the most talked-about signings is James Rodríguez, who signed with Minnesota United until June 2026 with the aim of preparing for next summer’s World Cup in North America in which he will lead Colombia for yet another edition.
The former Porto, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich player, among others, was released after not renewing his contract with Club León at the end of the last Mexican Apertura.
Legendary German attacker Thomas Muller faces his first full season with the Vancouver Whitecaps after reaching the MLS finals – in which they lost to Miami – in his first months with the Canadian franchise.
Other big names on the international scene that will be in the spotlight this season are Mexico’s Héctor Herrera (Houston Dynamo) and Hirving Lozano (San Diego FC), Germany’s Timo Werner (San Jose Earthquakes), Ivory Coast’s Wilfried Zaha (Charlotted FC) and Portugal’s André Gomes (Columbus Crew).
Two-month break for the summer World Cup
The 2026 season will be an atypical year for MLS clubs, which will experience a break in the calendar between May 25 and July 16 due to the 2026 World Cup, hosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.
Although world champions such as Thomas Muller (2014) and Hugo Lloris (2018) are retired from their national teams, other winners such as Leo Messi and de Paul (2022) will attend the World Cup in search of another star for their country, while players such as James and Son will be the emblems of Colombia and South Korea.
Filed under: MLS season 2026
With information from EFE
