Major League Soccer, commonly known as the MLS is a USA-based North American professional football (soccer) league. It is the highest level of professional soccer in the United States and Canada, and the MLS is affiliated to the US Soccer Federation and a member of CONCACAF. It was founded in 1994 and had its first official season in 1996, and currently consists of 14 teams. Similar to other North American sports leagues, the teams are arranged into two conferences – Eastern and Western.

MLS Soccer - Birth from a Promise!

Interestingly, the MLS was born from a promise made to FIFA by the US Soccer Federation. One of the conditions for their staging the 1994 FIFA World Cup was that they would set up a top class professional soccer league in the country, as one of the main reasons for holding the World Cup in the USA was to promote the popularity of the game there. The league started off with fairly healthy numbers after the post-World Cup popularity, but those declined. Things have become somewhat more favourable with recent marketing efforts like the signing of David Beckham, as well as the expansion to soccer-mad Toronto in Canada.