MLS 2026 season: Lionel Messi's trophy hunt, plus World Cup boost

Major League Soccer kicks off its 31st season with a full slate of games this weekend.

This is a big season for MLS, given that midway through the campaign the U.S., Canada and Mexico will co-host the expanded 48-team 2026 World Cup.

Lionel Messi and Inter Miami enter as reigning league champions, and will open a new stadium — Miami Freedom Park — on April 4 when the Herons host Austin FC.

There'll be plenty of worthy challengers for Messi and Miami, and we will break down the top contenders as we present 10 storylines for the upcoming season:

Lionel Messi, Inter Miami go for MLS Cup repeat … and more!

Messi — the eight-time Ballon d'Or award winner and 2022 World Cup champion with Argentina — won his 47th trophy for club and country when he helped Inter Miami prevail in MLS Cup 2025 against the Vancouver Whitecaps.

This season, Messi and Miami can collect as many as five trophies: MLS Cup, MLS Supporters' Shield, Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup and the Campeones Cup. If Messi plays in the 2026 World Cup, he could add a sixth trophy. This could be a big year for the soccer G.O.A.T.!

Inter Miami lost two icons of the game — Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets — to retirement. However, the club made some big moves over the offseason, most notably acquiring forward Germán Berterame from Monterrey and Dayne St. Clair, the 2025 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year. The Herons continue to be the team to beat in MLS.

Who are biggest challengers to Messi and Miami's throne?

The preseason default top contender almost always seems to be Los Angeles FC. However, Steve Cherundolo has left and Marc Dos Santos is the new coach. With forwards Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga, and veteran goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, LAFC should be able to overcome any growing pains that might arise with a new gaffer on the sidelines at BMO Stadium.

LAFC's El Tráfico rival, the LA Galaxy, had a dismal follow-up to their 2024 MLS Cup-winning campaign, missing the playoffs entirely. Yet, the Galaxy have reloaded, bringing in former MLS Defender of the Year Jakob Glesnes and ex-St. Louis City SC striker João Klauss to help the club return to prominence.

The Seattle Sounders are about as consistent a force as there is in MLS. The club collected a trophy last year, winning the Leagues Cup final over Inter Miami. Speaking of consistency, Brian Schmetzer is entering his 11th season as Sounders head coach (but he's been a Sounders coach since 2002, a tenure extending through the Sounders' MLS and pre-MLS setups).

Seattle's Cascadia rival, the Vancouver Whitecaps, were a revelation in 2025, playing in both the Concacaf Champions Cup and MLS Cup finals. Despite off-field issues related to the club's future in Vancouver, the Whitecaps — who feature German soccer legend Thomas Müller — figure to contend out West.

FC Cincinnati finished second to Inter Miami in the Supporters' Shield race in 2025 (and had won it two seasons prior) and has established itself as one of the Eastern Conference's top squads. As has Cincinnati's "Hell is Real" rival, the Columbus Crew, who — like LAFC — welcome a new coach, Henrik Rydström, who replaces Wilfried Nancy (who already has been sacked by Scottish club Celtic).

Tata Martino is back as coach at Atlanta United. Does that mean a return to the glory that the club enjoyed in its first two MLS seasons, including winning the 2018 MLS Cup?

The Philadelphia Union — the 2025 Supporters' Shield winners — underwent an offseason overhaul. The Union traded the club's top goal-scorer last season, Tai Baribo, to D.C. United and dealt the aforementioned Glesnes to the Galaxy.

Can an MLS club finally win Concacaf Champions Cup?

It's been four long years since the Seattle Sounders became the first MLS club to win the modern configuration of the Concacaf Champions Cup (then Concacaf Champions League). Since then, three MLS teams have reached the final — Los Angeles FC, Columbus Crew and Vancouver Whitecaps — only to be foiled by Liga MX sides.

Inter Miami enters this year's competition as MLS's best hope. This is the third consecutive year that Messi and Co. have qualified for the continental club tournament. Last year, Inter Miami advanced to the semifinal, only to be thwarted by the upstart Whitecaps. While Inter Miami will be pegged as the best chance in CCC for MLS, the Seattle Sounders — who, like Inter Miami, have a bye into the Round of 16 — and two-time runner-up Los Angeles FC could make deep tournament runs.

Perhaps a dark horse such as Vancouver last year will emerge. Here's looking at you, San Diego FC.

Who are biggest MLS newcomers?

Colombian international James Rodriguez shocked most everybody by joining Minnesota United. Rodriguez emerged as a global soccer star at the 2014 World Cup, but has bounced around in recent years. He's joining the Loons with hopes to ramp up toward the 2026 World Cup.

Once upon a time, Timo Werner was tabbed as a future superstar for the German national team. Werner's career path has veered off track after a promising start, and the next stop on the 29-year-old's vagabond soccer tour has him joining the San Jose Earthquakes.

Inter Miami made an aggressive move to acquire Germán Berterame, a talented striker for Liga MX's Monterrey and the Mexican national team.

MLS and the 2026 World Cup boost

This is a big moment for MLS. The United States-hosted 1994 World Cup is a major narrative to the league's origin story. MLS has come a long way since then and looks to build momentum off increased fan interest in the sport as the U.S. (along with Canada and Mexico) host the World Cup, again.

It might have been ideal for the league's calendar switch to take place following this World Cup, thus starting a fresh season on the heels of the 2026 World Cup final. Instead, MLS will take a seven-week midseason break from May 25 through July 16.

MLS likely will be one of the best-represented leagues in the first 48-team World Cup (MLS had 36 players competing at the 2022 World Cup).

Is Leagues Cup happening, too?

You betcha.

The 36-team Leagues Cup (18 from MLS, 18 from Liga MX) will open a bit later this year due to the World Cup, kicking off on Aug. 4 with the final being held during Labor Day weekend on Sept. 6.

For the first time, there will be Leagues Cup matches held in Mexico. Could this be a precursor to the Leagues Cup being played during the MLS winter break, with Mexico and southern U.S. cities hosting games? We shall see!

MLS teams have won each of the three previous expanded Leagues Cup competitions.

What about the U.S. Open Cup?

Prior to the creation of Major League Soccer in the 1990s, American soccer history was a disjointed and often-confusing enterprise. The one thread that ties the game of soccer together in this country through the years is the U.S. Open Cup (officially known as the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup), a competition that dates back to 1913.

MLS will continue to compete in the U.S. Open Cup in a limited capacity. 16 MLS teams will join this year's edition, which will feature a total of 80 professional and amateur clubs.

The competition winner automatically qualifies for the 2027 edition of the Concacaf Champions Cup.

This is the final spring-to-fall season

This will be the end of an era in MLS. The 2026 season is the last one that will kick off in the spring and complete with MLS Cup being played during the holiday season. The calendar switch designed to align MLS with the major European leagues is a seminal moment in its history, positioning the league to play a bigger role in the international club soccer ecosystem.

MLS plans to play a "sprint" season from February to May in 2027 before opening its first summer-to-spring season in July 2027.

Is this the Whitecaps' final season in Vancouver?

The Whitecaps are coming off the best season in club history, having reached both the Concacaf Champions Cup and MLS Cup finals (while also winning the Canadian Championship for a fourth consecutive year). Yet, all that on-field success is coming with serious off-field concerns about the team's future in Vancouver.

The situation seems bleak. The club is up for sale, while at the same time is wrestling with BC Place — one of the venues for the 2026 World Cup — for a better lease agreement (the club and stadium have an agreement for 2026, so at least there's that).

But, the team's "For Sale" sign is still up and there are no takers. This comment on the matter from team CEO Axel Schuster is particularly alarming: "As of now, at this moment, no one, not one single one, is interested in buying even 1% of this club. Because all of them think that our setup here and the market and the situation we are in is not something where you can invest in as long as [things don’t change completely]."

Yeesh.

You hate to see teams get uprooted from communities and ripped away from fanbases that deeply care for the club and players. But the situation in Vancouver would have even the most optimistic fan feeling dispirited.

No Apple TV paywall to watch MLS games

If you're an Apple TV subscriber, you will be able to watch MLS games (plus Leagues Cup and the MLS playoffs) at no additional cost. An Apple TV subscription not only gives sports fans access to MLS games, but also F1 races and MLB's "Friday Night Baseball" games.

The league's answer to "Sunday Night Football" is back, but in addition to a standalone Sunday evening matchup, MLS will have a featured Saturday night showdown. The first match in the Saturday night spotlight is a doozy: Inter Miami vs. Los Angeles FC at the historic L.A. Memorial Coliseum, which will be one of the major venues for the 2028 Summer Olympics.