The MLS Cup is Major League Soccer's annual championship game and pits the winners of the Eastern and Western conferences against each other, with the victors ultimately being crowned league champions.
Continue reading for all you need to know about the MLS Cup, including 2024 dates, past winners, format and more.
The 2024 MLS Cup Final will take place on Saturday, December 7, 2024.
The 2024 MLS Cup's start time is yet to be determined.
The MLS Cup is held at the home ground of the higher seeded team contesting the match. For example, the 2023 final was held at Columbus Crew's Lower.com Field and home advantage helped the Crew go on to beat Los Angeles FC.
Read more: Major League Soccer 2024 dates, schedule, teams, stadiums, and more
All postseason matches will be streamed on Apple TV as part of the MLS Season Pass.
The MLS Cup crowns Major League Soccer's champion and brings the curtain down on the season, but there is plenty of work for the teams to do before they can even contemplate playing in the championship game.
In 2023, the regular MLS season ran from February-October with the top nine teams from both the Eastern and Western conferences qualifying for the playoffs.
The exact playoff format often changes from year to year in MLS.
The playoffs were extended in 2023 to include a Wild Card round contested between the teams that finished eighth and ninth in each conference.
Those one-off Wild Card matches were played at the home of the higher seeded team, with the two winners advancing through to round one of the playoffs. This year, the first round was played over a best-of-three series, which saw the higher-seeded team play two matches at home and one away.
The eight round one winners then advanced through to the Conference Semi-Finals, which were contested as a one-off match at the home of the higher-seeded team, as are the Conference Finals.
The two conference winners then went on to contest the one-off MLS Cup Final.
The MLS Cup has taken place 28 times and has been held in every year since D.C. United won the inaugural title, beating Los Angeles Galaxy 3-2 in the final in 1996.
LA Galaxy are the most successful team in MLS Cup history, lifting the trophy a record five times - the last of which came in 2014 - while they have also reached the showpiece match on more occasions than anyone else, making nine appearances.
D.C. United are the only other side to have won the title more than twice, as they have been crowned champions on four occasions, although the last of those came in 2004.
Houston Dynamo, Seattle Sounders, Sporting Kansas City, Columbus Crew and San Jose Earthquakes are the other teams that have won the title more than once.
Year | Winner | Score | Runner Up | MVP |
1996 | D.C. United | 3-2* | Los Angeles Galaxy | Marco Etcheverry |
1997 | D.C. United | 2-1 | Colorado Rapids | Jaime Moreno |
1998 | Chicago Fire | 2-0 | D.C. United | Peter Nowak |
1999 | D.C. United | 2-0 | Los Angeles Galaxy | Ben Olsen |
2000 | Kansas City Wizards | 1-0 | Chicago Fire | Tony Meola |
2001 | San Jose Earthquakes | 2-1* | Los Angeles Galaxy | Dwayne De Rosario |
2002 | Los Angeles Galaxy | 1-0* | New England Revolution | Carlos Ruiz |
2003 | San Jose Earthquakes | 4-2 | Chicago Fire | Landon Donovan |
2004 | D.C. United | 3-2 | Kansas City Wizards | Alecko Eskandarian |
2005 | Los Angeles Galaxy | 1-0* | New England Revolution | Guillermo Ramirez |
2006 | Houston Dynamo | 1-1 (4-3)** | New England Revolution | Brian Ching |
2007 | Houston Dynamo | 2-1 | New England Revolution | Dwayne De Rosario |
2008 | Columbus Crew | 3-1 | New York Red Bulls | Guillermo Barros Schelotto |
2009 | Real Salt Lake | 1-1 (5-4)** | Los Angeles Galaxy | Nick Rimando |
2010 | Colorado Rapids | 2-1* | FC Dallas | Conor Casey |
2011 | Los Angeles Galaxy | 1-0 | Houston Dynamo | Landon Donovan |
2012 | Los Angeles Galaxy | 3-1 | Houston Dynamo | Omar Gonzalez |
2013 | Sporting Kansas City | 1-1 (7-6)** | Real Salt Lake | Aurelien Collin |
2014 | Los Angeles Galaxy | 2-1* | New England Revolution | Robbie Keane |
2015 | Portland Timbers | 2-1 | Columbus Crew | Diego Valeri |
2016 | Seattle Sounders | 0-0 (5-4)** | Toronto FC | Stefan Frei |
2017 | Toronto FC | 2-0 | Seattle Sounders | Jozy Altidore |
2018 | Atlanta United | 2-0 | Portland Timbers | Josef Martinez |
2019 | Seattle Sounders | 3-1 | Toronto FC | Victor Rodriguez |
2020 | Columbus Crew | 3-0 | Seattle Sounders | Lucas Zelarayan |
2021 | New York City | 1-1 (4-2)** | Portland Timbers | Sean Johnson |
2022 | Los Angeles FC | 3-3 (3-0) | Philadelphia Union | John McCarthy |
2023 | Columbus Crew | 2-1 | Los Angeles FC | Juan 'Cucho' Hernandez |
* Game won after extra time ** Game won on penalties
Inter Miami is the favorite to win the 2024 MLS Cup.
View the latest MLS Cup odds here.
Odds displayed within this article were correct at the time of writing and are subject to change.