It doesn’t get much more monumental than this.
The start of Major League Soccer’s 31st season is less than two months away, and it will ignite one of the most momentous years in North American soccer history.
It all centers around the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the long-awaited return of Earth’s most eagerly anticipated sporting spectacle this summer. The 1994 tournament in the United States heralded a soccer renaissance, captivating fans from coast to coast and laying the foundation for MLS’s launch in 1996 – and similarly transformative effects are expected this time around.
That’s not all! There are plenty of other big events for footy fans to mark on their calendars, and we've highlighted them in the rundown below.
Early-to-mid January: MLS preseason begins
It's the starting line for the MLS marathon, when players and coaches report to their respective clubs as preparations for the new season get underway. Many teams leave their local markets in search of mild weather and quiet settings to focus on the hard work of physical and tactical periodization, centered around popular sites in Florida, Arizona and Southern California.
Feb. 3: Concacaf Champions Cup kicks off
North America's top club championship returns. Nine MLS sides will compete against top teams from LIGA MX and other leagues across the continent in a knockout-style bracket with two-legged home-and-home series in each round, save for the one-off championship final on Saturday, May 30. In addition to silverware, prize money, and bragging rights, the winner secures a spot in the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup and the 2026 FIFA Intercontinental Cup.
Feb. 21: MLS regular season begins
MLS is Back!
A massive 31st season starts when St. Louis CITY SC host Charlotte FC in a Saturday afternoon matinee at Energizer Park, the first of 15 matches featuring all 30 member clubs. Another highlight of opening weekend: Reigning champions Inter Miami CF visit LAFC in a special fixture at historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where a bumper crowd is expected to watch Son Heung-Min face Lionel Messi & Co.
March 13: NWSL season opens
The 14th season of North America’s top-flight women’s professional league gets underway, highlighted by the arrival of two expansion teams, Boston Legacy FC and Denver Summit FC – bringing NWSL to 16 member clubs. Widely hailed as one of the planet’s elite women’s soccer competitions, the NWSL includes 11 MLS venues and several clubs affiliated with MLS siblings.
March 17: Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup begins
The 111th edition of one of the oldest soccer tournaments in the world kicks off with First Round action; the 16 participating MLS clubs will enter the fray in the Round of 32 (third phase). A field of 80 teams from all tiers of the U.S. soccer pyramid, from amateur levels up to MLS, will vie for a $1 million purse and a place in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup. To avoid overlap with the FIFA World Cup calendar, this year’s format will feature seven rounds, one fewer than recent editions.
March 23-31: FIFA men’s international window
Under FIFA regulations, national teams have full access to release players from their club teams for camps during this period, which marks the final international window before the summer. It’s a vital opportunity for United States coach Mauricio Pochettino and Canada boss Jesse Marsch to work with their squads before making final decisions about their rosters for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The USMNT will host European giants Belgium and Portugal for high-caliber friendlies at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of Atlanta United. Meanwhile, the CanMNT’s match schedule has not yet been finalized.
March 23-31: FIFA World Cup 2026 playoffs
While Canada, the United States and most of the rest of the 2026 field are in the final stages of World Cup preparation, six of the 48 slots in the tournament still have yet to be filled, and will be awarded via the high drama of the playoffs during this same international window.
Four of them will come from Europe, where 16 teams are vying for those spots in UEFA’s playoffs, which involve semifinal and final games across four different ‘paths.’ One of those winners will slot into the USMNT’s World Cup Group D come summer, while another will join the CanMNT in Group B.
Meanwhile, two teams from Concacaf (Jamaica and Suriname) will join one team apiece from the African (Congo DR), Asian (Iraq), Oceania (New Caledonia) and South American (Bolivia) confederations in a FIFA intercontinental playoff in Mexico to determine the final two World Cup participants; the survivors will join Groups I and K at the main event.
April 4: Miami Freedom Park debuts
Messi and Inter Miami will cut the ribbon on MLS’s newest soccer-specific stadium with a visit from Austin FC (7:30 pm ET | Apple TV). A 25,000-seat venue at the heart of a $1 billion mixed-use development near Miami International Airport in the city’s urban core, the Herons’ new home ground is the first of three MLS stadiums set to open in consecutive years, including New York City FC’s new home, Etihad Park, arriving in 2027, and Chicago Fire FC’s new downtown stadium set to open in 2028.
May 20-23: Concacaf W Champions Cup knockout stage
Amid explosive growth in women’s soccer around the world, Concacaf launched this competition in 2024, the WoSo equivalent of CCC, and its second-ever champion will be decided in May. NWSL sides Washington Spirit and Gotham FC (who won the inaugural W Champions Cup in Nuevo León, Mexico in May 2025) advanced out of the group stage and will meet Mexican powers Pachuca and Club América, respectively, in semifinal clashes.
The winners advance to the championship game and the losers take part in a third-place match; all four matches will be held at a centralized venue to be announced at a later date. The tournament winners will qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women's Champions Cup and 2028 FIFA Women's Club World Cup, two new intercontinental tournaments being launched in the coming years.
May 25-July 16: MLS's FIFA World Cup pause
With a record number of MLS players expected to be called up for the World Cup, five MLS stadiums serving as match venues and many other facilities slated as potential host sites for national team base camps, MLS will pause regular-season play for the beloved tournament, which runs from June 11 to July 19.
May 30: Concacaf Champions Cup Final
The moment of truth, when the top club honor in North America will be decided. Since Seattle Sounders FC's historic triumph in 2022, every CCC final has featured an MLS vs. LIGA MX matchup, with the Mexican side winning on home soil each time. Will one of MLS’s nine representatives change that trend in ‘26?
June 1-9: FIFA men’s international window
National teams will gather again during this period, with 2026 FIFA World Cup participants conducting their final tune-ups before the tournament kicks off. The USMNT will host African powerhouse Senegal in Charlotte on May 31 before welcoming four-time world champions Germany to Chicago's Soldier Field on June 6. The CanMNT will face an as-yet-unnamed opponent in Montréal.
June 11: Mexico begin '26 World Cup at Estadio Azteca
A record 48 teams will play 104 matches in 16 cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico during this month-long soccer smorgasbord. And it all begins at a venue already rich in FIFA history: The mighty Estadio Azteca, site of the 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals, where Mexico will kick off the ‘26 tournament against Group A adversaries South Africa. Later in the day, South Korea will play their as-yet-unknown UEFA opponent in the day’s other Group A game, set for the Guadalajara suburb of Zapopan.
June 12: USA, Canada start World Cup slate
Fellow hosts Canada will raise the curtain on their World Cup campaign one day later at Toronto’s BMO Field against a European playoff winner still to be determined (the UEFA Path A winners, to use official FIFA parlance), as will the United States, who get started vs. Paraguay at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles.
June 18: Canada vs. Qatar | BC Place, Vancouver
After their opener in Toronto, Canada will jet west to conclude their group-stage slate at the home of Vancouver Whitecaps FC. The first of those two matches in British Columbia, a duel with the 2022 World Cup hosts, looks like a vital opportunity to bag three points that would almost guarantee advancement to the knockout stages (Round of 32).
June 19: USA vs. Australia | Lumen Field, Seattle
The United States also head to Cascadia for their second group-stage match, visiting the Seattle Sounders’ stomping grounds for a clash with the Socceroos, who they defeated 2-1 during a fiery friendly in Colorado last October.
June 24: Canada vs. Switzerland | BC Place, Vancouver
Marsch and the CanMNT will conclude Group A play against a dangerous Swiss outfit currently ranked No. 17 in the world.
June 25: USA vs. UEFA Path C winner | SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles
Pochettino and the Yanks return to Southern California for their final Group D fixture, which will feature one of Türkiye, Romania, Slovakia, and Kosovo – the European quartet who’ll battle for one of the final World Cup berths in a UEFA playoff in March.
June 28: World Cup knockout rounds begin
As a byproduct of the expanded 48-team World Cup, the knockout stages now begin with a Round of 32. The top two teams from each of the 12 groups, along with the eight best-ranked third-placed teams, will qualify and continue their dream of lifting the sport's biggest prize.
July 16-17: MLS action returns
Following the FIFA World Cup semifinals, MLS will restart the 2026 regular season with a selection of marquee rivalry matches.
The Thursday slate includes a Canadian Classique clash between CF Montréal and Toronto FC (7:30 pm ET | Apple TV), a St. Louis CITY vs. Sporting Kansas City cross-Missouri duel (8:30 pm ET | Apple TV) and a Seattle Sounders vs. Portland Timbers Cascadia Cup showdown (10:30 pm ET | Apple TV).
One day later, it’s a Nashville SC vs. Atlanta United Southern derby (8 pm ET | Apple TV, FOX) and El Tráfico with LA Galaxy vs. LAFC (10:30 pm ET | Apple TV, FS1).
July 19: World Cup final | MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.
The mother of all cup finals – when it comes to audience, stakes, hype, passion and just about everything else, the Super Bowl pales in comparison. The championship game for the 2026 edition of the planet’s most popular sporting event takes place at this NFL venue just outside New York City.
July 29: MLS All-Star Game | Charlotte, N.C.
This year's midseason exhibition showcase and its numerous surrounding events take place at and around Bank of America Stadium, home of Charlotte FC. The opponent is yet to be announced.
Aug. 4 - Sept. 6: Leagues Cup
The cross-border summer showdown returns. Thirty-six of the continent’s top clubs – 18 from LIGA MX, 18 from MLS – will participate in the 2026 edition, with the top nine finishers in each MLS conference from the prior season qualifying. Leagues Cup’s top three finishers will receive automatic bids into the following year’s Concacaf Champions Cup. Phase One exclusively features games between MLS and LIGA MX sides, with each club playing three matches against three opponents from the opposite league within their set, and the top four finishers from each side advance to the Knockout Rounds. Seattle Sounders FC are the reigning champions.
November: Concacaf W Championship
Once the men’s World Cup is done, focus will quickly shift to the women’s side, where Brazil host the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. North America’s representatives in that tournament will be decided in this qualifying event, which is also Concacaf’s top women’s title and the path to qualification for the 2028 Summer Olympics. Eight teams will vie for four spots at Brazil ‘27, while another two will advance to an intercontinental playoff. The USWNT are the back-to-back-to-back defending champions.
Nov. 7: Decision Day
The MLS regular season concludes in dramatic fashion with synchronized kickoffs of games across the Eastern and Western Conferences, with final places in the standings and the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs bracket on the line.
Mid-November: Audi MLS Cup Playoffs begin
The MLS campaign begins its exhilarating conclusion. While the full format and schedule for the 2026 playoffs have not yet been released, we know it will begin after the November FIFA international window (which previously fell right in the midst of the playoffs).
Nov. 21: NWSL Championship
Amid the MLS postseason, the NWSL season will also conclude with its championship match. Gotham FC are the defending champs, having won in 2023 and 2025.
December TBD: MLS Cup presented by Audi
The 10-month grind of the MLS season comes to an epic conclusion with the MLS Cup final in December; the exact date and time are TBD. The game will feature the Eastern Conference and Western Conference winners, and Inter Miami are the defending title holder.
