2023 Major League Soccer season
The 2023 Major League Soccer season was the 28th season of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada, and the 45th season overall of a national first-division league in the United States. The league expanded to 29 clubs following the addition of St. Louis City SC to the Western Conference, with Nashville SC moving back to the Eastern Conference.
| Season | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Dates |
|
| MLS Cup | Columbus Crew (3rd title) |
| Supporters' Shield | FC Cincinnati (1st shield) |
| Champions Cup (United States) |
|
| Champions Cup (Canada) | Vancouver Whitecaps FC |
| Matches played | 493 |
| Goals scored | 1,359 (2.76 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Denis Bouanga (20 goals) |
| Best goalkeeper | Stefan Frei (14 clean sheets) |
| Biggest home win | Columbus 6–1 Atlanta (March 25) Vancouver 5–0 Montréal (April 1) |
| Biggest away win | Salt Lake 0–4 St. Louis (March 25) |
| Highest scoring | 9 goals: St. Louis 6–3 Austin (August 20) |
| Longest winning run | 6 matches: Cincinnati |
| Longest unbeaten run | 10 matches:
|
| Longest winless run | 11 matches:
|
| Longest losing run | 8 matches: Toronto |
| Highest attendance | 82,110 LAG 2–1 LAFC (July 4) |
| Lowest attendance | 7,417 NYCFC 3–0 TOR (September 24) |
| Total attendance | 10,900,804 |
| Average attendance | 22,111 |
← 2022 2024 → | |
The regular season began on February 25 and concluded on October 21; it was followed by the playoffs which commenced on October 25. The regular schedule was released on December 20, 2022. The regular season was paused from July 20 to August 19 for the month-long Leagues Cup, during which time MLS teams played Liga MX opponents.
In June 2022, Apple Inc. and MLS announced a ten-year partnership for the broadcast and streaming rights to all MLS and Leagues Cup games, as well as select MLS Next and MLS Next Pro games, on the MLS Season Pass service within the Apple TV app. Fox Sports retained linear MLS TV rights, while for the first time in league history, ESPN no longer aired matches. Univision opted to only air Leagues Cup games, thus also not broadcasting MLS regular season contests after a combined nineteen years.
For the first time since its founding, MLS qualification berths for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup were not exclusively allocated to American clubs, allowing expatriated Canadian clubs an opportunity to qualify for the tournament without necessarily winning the Canadian Championship.
Los Angeles FC were the reigning MLS Cup champions and were the Supporters' Shield holders; Philadelphia Union were the reigning Eastern Conference champions. In their fifth season in the league, FC Cincinnati won the Supporters' Shield for the first time. The Columbus Crew won MLS Cup 2023 by defeating Los Angeles FC 2–1 at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio.