What happens to MLS during World Cup 2026?

World Cup 2026 is an off-season affair for most of the football world but there are some leagues that needed to work their scheduling around the global summer showpiece.

Major League Soccer was still under construction when the United States hosted the World Cup. Now the first division in both the USA and Canada, the birth of MLS was a condition of the 1994 hosting arrangement.

The 2026 season started in February and the regular season will conclude in early November. World Cup 2026 takes over in June and July, when MLS play generally continues around mid-season prestige friendlies.

What is Major League Soccer's summer schedule?

MLS is moving to a new calendar in 2027, running from summer to spring with a mid-season winter break. Its schedule will align with the top football leagues around the world and will be ushered in by a February-to-May 'sprint season' to bridge the subsequent gap.

Japan's J.League is in the middle of its own sprint season and will seamlessly return to a summer-to-spring schedule after the World Cup. Top-flight clubs in the United States and Canada voted in their change for a year later and MLS has had to create a space.

While World Cup matches will mostly be played in the likes of AT&T Stadium and MetLife Stadium, some MLS stadia will be involved and players around the league will be representing their international sides too.

The World Cup will be football's focus in June and July, with Major League Soccer settling on a seven-week break to accommodate the World Cup schedule in the summer of 2026.

Major League Soccer's 2026 season will pause from Monday, May 25 to Thursday, July 16. Six 'marquee rivalry matches' will be played in between the semi-finals and the final of the World Cup.

The regular season then returns after the final and will run until Saturday, 7 November. The play-off run to MLS Cup then begins, with the championship game to be played exactly one week before Christmas.

Inter Miami are the reigning champions after defeating Vancouver Whitecaps in MLS Cup 2025, so Lionel Messi is the captain of the title holders at both club and country level.

Incidentally, with 2022 winners Argentina expected to remain in the World Cup into its latter stages, Inter Miami have not been scheduled for a fixture in the mid-July match week in MLS. Major League Soccer will be well represented in various squads at the tournament.

As well as players expecting call-ups for the United States, Canada and Mexico, the league has evolved into a cosmopolitan smorgasbord boasting internationals for teams throughout the South American, African, European and Asian confederations.

World champions Argentina selected Inter Miami's Rodrigo De Paul along with Messi in their squad for two friendlies in March.