Major League Soccer is currently the only Division I professional outdoor league in the United States. The formation of MLS fulfilled U.S. Soccer's promise to Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) that the United States would have a professional Division I outdoor soccer league operating after World Cup USA '94.

     MLS was designed to operate as a single entity structure, unlike other professional sports leagues that are composed of individual franchise owners. In this single-entity structure, team operators own a financial stake in the league as well as their own individual teams . Also, player contracts are owned by the league and not the individual teams. Among the many benefits this single-entity structure provides MLS and its member teams, it causes decisions to be made in the best interest of the entire league rather than just one team and it limits the financial disparities between large and small markets.

     Major League Soccer is currently composed of two divisions (East and West) each consisting of five teams. The active roster for each team is comprised of 19 players with a maximum of three international players. Every season these 10 teams play 30 games each. Four games (two home, two away) against each Intra-Conference opponent as well as a home-and-home match-up against clubs outside its Conference comprise 26 of the 30 regular-season contests. The remaining four games (two home, two away), are determined based on competitive seeding, according to last year's regular-season performances. The MLS CUP Playoffs consist of a Conference Semifinal, a Conference Final and a one game championship.

     The following links have been provided to help you obtain further detailed information about the MLS organization, its teams and season, and any upcoming events.