2018 Major League Soccer season


The 2018 Major League Soccer season was the 23rd season of Major League Soccer, top division of soccer in the United States and Canada. The regular season began on March 3, 2018 and concluded on October 28, 2018. The MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 31, 2018 and concluded with MLS Cup 2018 on December 8, 2018. The league took a nine-day hiatus in early June for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, reduced from previous breaks.
Los Angeles FC joined the league as an expansion franchise, while D.C. United debuted their new soccer-specific stadium, Audi Field.
Toronto FC were the defending Supporters' Shield champions and defending MLS Cup champions.
New York Red Bulls won their third Supporters' Shield, with a league record 71 points, while Atlanta United FC won their first MLS Cup in their second year in the league.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and sponsorship

Note: All teams use Adidas as kit manufacturer.
TeamHead coachCaptainShirt sponsor
Atlanta United FC American Family Insurance
Chicago Fire Valspar
Colorado Rapids Transamerica
Columbus Crew SC Acura
D.C. United Leidos
FC Dallas AdvoCare
Houston Dynamo
LA Galaxy Herbalife
Los Angeles FC YouTube TV
Minnesota United FC Target
Montreal Impact Bank of Montreal
New England Revolution UnitedHealthcare
New York City FC Etihad Airways
New York Red Bulls Red Bull
Orlando City SC Orlando Health
Philadelphia Union Bimbo Bakeries USA
Portland Timbers Alaska Airlines
Real Salt Lake LifeVantage
San Jose Earthquakes Sutter Health
Seattle Sounders FC Xbox
Sporting Kansas City Ivy Funds
Toronto FC Bank of Montreal
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Bell Canada

Coaching changes

Regular season

Format

During the 2018 MLS regular season, each team played 34 games, including 17 home games and 17 away games. Teams faced each of their conference opponents twice during the season with one game at home and one game away. Western Conference teams played one additional intra-conference game and Eastern Conference teams played two. All teams faced each non-conference opponent once.

Conference standings

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Overall table

Aggregate 2017 and 2018 table

Playoffs

Bracket

Knockout round

Conference semifinals

Conference finals

MLS Cup

Attendance

Average home attendances

Ranked from highest to lowest average attendance.
Team
1Atlanta United FC1772,24344,696
2Seattle Sounders FC1747,52139,465
3Toronto FC1730,79923,011
4LA Galaxy1727,06816,231
5Minnesota United FC1752,24218,057
6Orlando City1725,52722,337
7New York City FC1730,13918,584
8Los Angeles FC1722,71622,000
9Vancouver Whitecaps FC1727,86317,357
10Portland Timbers1721,14421,14421,144
11Sporting Kansas City1721,06418,508
12San Jose Earthquakes1750,74315,648
13New York Red Bulls1725,21914,768
14Real Salt Lake1721,36316,015
15Montreal Impact1726,00515,485
16New England Revolution1736,57310,547
17D.C. United1720,5735,128
18Houston Dynamo1722,32013,094
19Philadelphia Union1719,01314,795
20FC Dallas1719,09613,147
21Colorado Rapids1717,83710,790
22Chicago Fire1721,9158,551
23Columbus Crew1719,1217,683
–Total3918,553,24572,2435,12821,875

Highest attendances

Regular season
RankHome teamScoreAway teamAttendanceDateWeekStadium
1Atlanta United FC1–1Seattle Sounders FC72,24320Mercedes-Benz Stadium
2Atlanta United FC3–1D.C. United72,0352Mercedes-Benz Stadium
3Atlanta United FC2–0Real Salt Lake72,01730Mercedes-Benz Stadium
4Atlanta United FC4–0Orlando City SC71,93218Mercedes-Benz Stadium
5Atlanta United FC2–1Chicago Fire71,81234Mercedes-Benz Stadium
6Minnesota United FC1–3LA Galaxy52,24233TCF Bank Stadium
7San Jose Earthquakes3–3LA Galaxy50,74318Stanford Stadium
8Seattle Sounders FC2–3Portland Timbers47,52118CenturyLink Field
9Atlanta United FC3–1Columbus Crew45,30325Mercedes-Benz Stadium
10Atlanta United FC5–0Los Angeles FC45,2076Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Player statistics

Goals

Assists

Shutouts

Hat-tricks

Awards

Player of the Month

MonthPlayerClubStatsRef
March Felipe GutiérrezSporting Kansas City5 GP, 5 G
April Miguel AlmirónAtlanta United FC4 GP, 5 G, 2 A
May Zack SteffenColumbus Crew5 GP, 0 GA
June Adama DiomandeLos Angeles FC5 GP, 7 G
July Josef MartínezAtlanta United FC5 GP, 9 G, 1 A
August Josef MartínezAtlanta United FC4 GP, 4 G, 1 A
September Luciano AcostaD.C. United5 GP, 4 G, 6 A
October Wayne RooneyD.C. United5 GP, 5 G

Player and team of the week

End of season awards

MLS Best XI

Player transfers

SuperDraft

The MLS SuperDraft is an annual event, taking place in January of each year, in which the teams of Major League Soccer select players who have graduated from college or otherwise been signed by the league. The first two rounds of 2018 MLS SuperDraft were held on January 19 in Philadelphia. Rounds three and four of the 2018 SuperDraft were held via conference call on January 21. Los Angeles FC selected João Moutinho with the first overall pick.

Allocation ranking

The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a player who is in the MLS allocation list. The MLS allocation list contains select U.S. National Team players and players transferred outside of MLS garnering a transfer fee of at least $500,000. The allocations are ranked in reverse order of finish for the 2017 season, taking playoff performance into account. As an expansion team, Los Angeles FC took the top spot.
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 season.
Original
ranking		Current
ranking		ClubDate allocation used
Player signedPrevious clubRef
31D.C. United
42Colorado Rapids
53Minnesota United FC
114FC Dallas
75Montreal Impact
86Philadelphia Union
97New England Revolution
108Real Salt Lake
19Los Angeles FC
1210San Jose Earthquakes
1311Sporting Kansas City
1412Atlanta United FC
1513Chicago Fire
1614New York Red Bulls
215LA Galaxy
1916New York City FC
2017Houston Dynamo
2118Columbus Crew
2219Seattle Sounders FC
2320Toronto FC
1721Vancouver Whitecaps FC Doneil Henry West Ham United
622Orlando City Oriol Rosell Sporting CP
1823Portland Timbers Jorge Villafaña Santos Laguna