MLS doesn't crown its champion the way you'd expect — here's the format
· 3 min read
Major League Soccer splits its clubs into Eastern and Western Conferences. The regular-season table — the Supporters' Shield — crowns the best regular-season team, but it isn't the league title. That's decided separately, by the playoffs.
Each conference sends its top finishers into a single-elimination bracket. Win your conference's playoff bracket and you advance to MLS Cup, a single match against the other conference's winner, to decide the league champion.
It's a structure closer to the major North American leagues MLS shares a continent with than to the European table-only model — which is part of why an MLS club that dominates the regular season can still finish the year without the trophy.