MLS and the USMNT: How 30 Years of American Soccer Shaped the 2026 World Cup Team

What you need to know

• The league: MLS began in 1996 with 10 clubs and now has 30 after San Diego FC's debut in 2025. Nine of the original 10 clubs are still in it.
• The numbers in 2026: an average of 22,109 fans per match through May, the second-highest in league history, and 7.9 million live viewers a week on average across streaming and TV, up 62% on last year.
• The pipeline: 8 of the 26 players on the USMNT's World Cup roster played in MLS at the time, and 13 more came through MLS academies or MLS clubs. That is 21 of 26.
• The World Cup: the USA won Group D, beat Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 and lost 4-1 to Belgium in the round of 16.
• The caveat: the national team's biggest names still play in Europe, and attendance and viewing growth does not by itself prove a better national team.

From 10 clubs to 30

MLS was established in 1993 as the top level of professional soccer in the United States and kicked off in 1996 with 10 clubs. Tampa Bay is the only original team that no longer plays in the league. The league grew steadily through expansion, and when San Diego FC joined in 2025 it reached 30 clubs. San Diego's owners reportedly paid an expansion fee of around $500 million, the highest ever for an MLS club, and the team made the playoffs in its first season.

Two signings changed the league's profile. David Beckham joined the LA Galaxy in 2007, and his deal was the first big use of the Designated Player rule, which lets a club pay a small number of stars beyond the salary cap. Lionel Messi joined Inter Miami in 2023 and brought a far larger global audience. He is also on this year's Ballon d'Or shortlist after what one report called a spectacular World Cup.

The money and the audience

The league's biggest recent change is how it is watched. MLS sells its matches through Apple in a deal reported at $2.5 billion over 10 years, and for 2026 the separate Season Pass was dropped, so every match is part of the standard Apple TV subscription. Apple has not published subscriber numbers, so the league's audience figures, which combine streaming and linear TV partners, are best read as the league's own count and not directly comparable with traditional TV ratings.

Five clubs set single-match attendance records this season. Colorado drew 75,824 to Empower Field at Mile High, the second-highest crowd in MLS history, and LAFC drew 75,673 and D.C. United 72,026. The league says its fans have an average age of 39.6, the youngest among the major North American men's leagues. On the business side, Sportico values the average club at about $767 million, up 6% on 2025 and 39% since 2021. Forbes, with a different method, had LAFC as the first MLS club valued at $1 billion in 2025.

The player pipeline

The clearest link between MLS and the national team is the roster. Of the 26 players the USMNT took to the World Cup, eight were playing in MLS: the three goalkeepers Matt Freese, Matt Turner and Chris Brady, plus Max Arfsten, Tim Ream, Miles Robinson, Sebastian Berhalter and Cristian Roldan. That made MLS the largest single-league group in the squad. Another 13 players either came up through MLS clubs' homegrown systems or spent time in MLS academies before moving to Europe, including Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson, Mark McKenzie and Auston Trusty. In MLS's own count, 21 of 26 had an MLS link.

This is how the system is meant to work: young American players develop at home, get minutes and move to bigger leagues for a fee. It also means the benefit shows up on the national team even when the player has left. Sports Illustrated noted that, for the first time in the modern era, every player in the roster was set to play top-division soccer in 2026-27. The names that carry the team, such as Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, still play in Italy's Serie A, and five players have no MLS link at all.

A World Cup at home

The 2026 World Cup was the first World Cup played in the US since 1994, co-hosted with Canada and Mexico, and 13 MLS cities served as host markets, with almost 40 MLS stadiums and training sites in use. The USMNT beat Paraguay 4-1 and Australia 2-0, lost 3-2 to Türkiye and still won Group D, its first group win at a World Cup since 2010. It then beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 in the new round of 32. Mauricio Pochettino became the winningest USMNT manager in World Cup history with three wins. In the round of 16 Belgium won 4-1. Folarin Balogun scored three goals, the team's top total.

The result extends a long wait: the United States has not reached the World Cup quarter-finals since 2002 and is now 1-5 in the round of 16. That is the honest test of the MLS story. The league has produced bigger crowds, more money and a deeper player pool, but the national team's ceiling at a World Cup has not yet moved beyond the last 16.

What it means going forward

The growth is real and measurable: more clubs, bigger stadiums, a younger audience and a pipeline that supplies most of the national team. What the numbers do not show is quality at the top end. A tournament run to the quarter-finals would need more players at the level of Europe's best clubs, which depends on how many young players MLS can develop and sell. Next on the calendar are the MLS playoffs, and you can follow every scorer and assist leader on our MLS player stats page. For the other side of American soccer, read our NWSL Shield race analysis, and for how the biggest leagues compare on goals and assists, see our top five leagues analysis.