The 2025 MLS schedule is out, a veritable smorgasbord of soccer splashing onto everyone’s calendars as the new year looms.
Naturally, some matches will draw the eye because of the history, circumstances or context around them. Here’s a selection of some of the most notable among them.
Note: With MLS marking its 30th season by welcoming its 30th club in San Diego FC, there are just too many big games to fit into a very early rundown like this one, and no slight is intended to those not included here. Besides, we’ll learn plenty more about the must-watch teams and fixtures in the coming months from winter transfer business and as preseason camp unfolds.
You can catch all the action all season long on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. And new this year: MLS Season Pass will broadcast a featured game on Sunday evenings with enhanced production and dedicated studio programming (more details will be shared at a later date).
- When: Saturday, Feb. 22 at 2:30 pm ET
- Where: Chase Stadium
Many of us have watched, read, talked and thought quite a lot about Lionel Messi and his Miami project over the past year and a half – to excess, in the eyes of some. But there’s a reason the GOAT looms so large wherever and whenever he plays, and every time he dons that pink kit is an opportunity to be reminded of why.
The Herons produced MLS’s best-ever regular season in 2024, breaking the league’s points record and scoring more goals than anyone else, only to crash and burn at the first hurdle in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs via an equally historic upset loss to Atlanta. That sets up all sorts of great expectations and fertile plotlines for the new campaign.
Meanwhile, this fixture marks a fresh start for the MLS Cup 2021 presented by Audi winners. New York City FC parted company with head coach Nick Cushing in November.
- When: Saturday, March 1 at 10:30 pm ET
- Where: Snapdragon Stadium
Jaws. Toros. Sockers. Nomads. San Diego is rich in soccer history, talent and culture, yet it’s been decades since a top-flight men’s professional outdoor team represented ‘America's Finest City.’ That finally changes on the first night of March when SDFC play their inaugural home match, led by livewire Mexican winger Hirving "Chucky" Lozano.
It’s quite fitting that they welcome St. Louis, another traditional soccer hotbed that’s embraced just such a long-awaited return since CITY SC debuted in 2023, for the occasion.
- When: Sunday, March 16 at 7 pm ET
- Where: Mercedes-Benz Stadium
All eyes will turn towards “The Benz” as Messi & Co. visit the Eastern Conference counterpart that sank their MLS Cup 2024 hopes in stunning fashion last fall. More than 68,000 fans turned up at MBS for the second game of that Round One series, and a similarly huge crowd is likely for this rematch – possibly even the biggest of the entire MLS season. It will also gain enhanced production and dedicated studio programming on MLS Season Pass as one of 2025’s new featured matches on Sunday evenings.
To further thicken the plot, Miami’s respected sporting director Chris Henderson just moved from IMCF to ATL, where he’s spearheading what projects to be a dramatic, ambitious roster rebuild to vault the Five Stripes back into the league’s elite. This battle against the reigning Supporters’ Shield holders will provide a timely test for ATLUTD’s overhauled squad.
- When: Sunday, April 6 at 5 pm ET
- Where: PayPal Park
Thirty years to the day after these two clubs faced off in the league’s inaugural match in 1996, MLS’s rich history takes center stage with this commemorative occasion by the Bay. It’s a moment to savor the vast growth and evolution of the past three decades, and the presence of new Quakes head coach and sporting director Bruce Arena – who led D.C. to the 1996 and ‘97 MLS Cup titles en route to becoming the winningest coach the league has seen so far – on the touchline brings it all full circle.
We’ll also get an early snapshot of Arena’s renovation efforts in San Jose, where past glories have faded amid sustained struggles: The two-time champs have made the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs just three times in the last decade, and PayPal Park has yet to host a postseason match since its opening in 2015.
- When: Wednesday, May 14 at 8:30 pm ET
- Where: Energizer Park
Rivalry Week, a longstanding annual celebration of the league’s fiercest and most eagerly-anticipated matchups, kicks into another gear in 2025 with a packed slate of local and regional derbies across two matchdays. And what better way to raise the curtain than this heated cross-Missouri showdown between two cities with a deep, contentious sporting history?
This matchup caught fire right from the jump when STL entered the league in 2023, fueled by a clash in the playoffs later that year, and you can bet on both fanbases being hyped up for the latest edition.
- When: Saturday, May 17 at 2:30 pm ET
- Where: Stade Saputo
Rivalry Week rolls on with an unprecedented Saturday slate of seven backyard brawls from coast to coast. From New York’s Hudson River Derby, to the Miami-Orlando cross-Florida clash, to the Texas tussle between FC Dallas and Houston Dynamo, all are appointment viewing.
- When: Saturday, May 17 at 9:30 pm ET
- Where: Providence Park
That daylong rivalry extravaganza concludes in the Rose City, a powerfully atmospheric setting for the always-ferocious Cascadia Cup clash between the Timbers and Sounders, whose history spans decades and multiple leagues dating back to the old NASL in the 1970s.
The intensity crackles on the pitch, and in the stands as well: Supporter culture thrives in the Pacific Northwest and this fixture provides a unique showcase for the tifo, chants and songs of the Timbers Army, Emerald City Supporters and many others on both sides.
- When: Sunday, May 18 at 9 pm ET
- Where: Dignity Health Sports Park
What better way to wrap up Rivalry Week ‘25 than with El Tráfico, the vibrant “battle for Los Angeles” that became a must-watch affair from the moment LAFC entered MLS in 2018? Both fanbases show out for these games like no other.
With the reinvigorated Galaxy surging back to their usual place among the league’s upper crust with a rousing march to the MLS Cup 2024 trophy, this is also a duel of top Western Conference contenders, packed with entertaining stars like Gabriel Pec, Denis Bouanga and Olivier Giroud.
- When: Saturday, July 12 at 7:30 pm ET
- Where: TQL Stadium
Cincy vs. Columbus – they call it the “Hell Is Real” derby, a cheeky nod to a memorable road sign along Interstate 71 between the two cities, and it’s featured several compelling clashes over the past few years, including an instant classic in the 2023 postseason.
The fans love to needle one another in this fight for Ohio bragging rights, and under coaches Wilfried Nancy and Pat Noonan, the teams play some of the most assertive, attacking-oriented soccer in the league.
- When: Saturday, Sept. 27 at 7:30 pm ET
- Where: Sports Illustrated Stadium
It’s always a blood-and-thunder vibe when the red and blue halves of Gotham lock horns – just look back at their pulsating clash in the 2024 playoffs, where Emil Forsberg, Dante Vanzeir and their RBNY teammates knocked off the Pigeons on their upstart run to the MLS Cup final.
The intensity dials up that much further in the final weeks of the regular season as teams make their final push, which promises bile, bite and bravado for this meeting in Harrison, New Jersey.
