Major League Soccer will return to the field on July 8 with a unique World Cup-style tournament featuring all 26 clubs competing at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney Resort in Florida. Regular season points and a Concacaf Champions League berth will be on the line. But before any of that, there will be a draw to determine the path to potential glory for each team.
Watch on Thursday
The MLS is Back Tournament draw will take place at 12:30 pm PT on Thursday, June 11 and it will be streamed live in the window above, as well as on MLSsoccer.com and MLS Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Format
The 26 MLS teams will be drawn into one of six groups. The 14-team Eastern Conference will have three groups, one of six teams and two with four teams each. The 12-team Western Conference will also be divided into three groups, each consisting of four teams. For the remainder of the 2020 season, Nashville SC will move to the Eastern Conference.
Each group will have a seeded team. As the “host” team, Orlando City SC will be the top seed in the six-team group. The remaining five seeds will be:
- East: Atlanta United (2019 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs semifinalist)
- East: Toronto FC (2019 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs semifinalist)
- West: LAFC (2019 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs semifinalist)
- West: Seattle Sounders (2019 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs semifinalist)
- West: Real Salt Lake (next highest points total in the Western Conference from 2019 season)
To determine which of the 20 unseeded clubs goes into which group, a representative from each of the six seeded clubs will participate in the draw by picking a number at random from their conference. Each number will correspond to a ball containing the name of an unseeded club that will join the seeded club's group.
MLS is Back Tournament
Get the full lowdown on the upcoming MLS is Back Tournament.
Extra Time, presented by Bell
Introducing Extra Time, presented by Bell, a new video series bringing you closer to Whitecaps FC as we return to play in Orlando: whitecapsfc.com/BellExtraTime.
Key Dates
June 11: MLS is Back Tournament Draw
June 24: Teams begin arriving in Florida
July 8: MLS is Back Tournament group stage begins
July 25-28: Round-of-16
July 30- Aug. 1: Quarterfinals
August 5-6: Semifinals
August 11: MLS is Back Tournament Final
