Major League Soccer All-Star Game

The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club. MLS initially adopted a traditional all-star game format used by other North American sports leagues where the Eastern Conference squared off against the Western Conference. This eventually evolved into the current system where the league annually invites a club from abroad to play against a league all-star team in a friendly match. The MLS All-Stars hold a 9–7 record in the competition marking the season's midpoint. Players are awarded rosters spots through a combination of fan voting and selections by the appointed manager and league commissioner.

MLS All-Star Game

Founded	1996
Region	Major League Soccer (CONCACAF)
Number of teams	2
Current champions	Atlético Madrid (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	MLS All-Stars (9 titles)
Television broadcasters	ESPN, FS1, UniMás, TSN, TVA Sports
2020 MLS All-Star Game

In case of a tie after full-time, the game does not use a 30-minute extra time period; instead it goes straight to a penalty shoot-out. The match is preceded by a skills challenge tournament, which was introduced in 2018 and features three-player teams competing in various events. The All-Star Game also runs parallel to the Major League Soccer Homegrown Game, which debuted in 2014.[1]

History

Major League Soccer's first all-star game was played at Giants Stadium in the summer of 1996. The game, using an East–West format with players handpicked by the coaching staffs to emulate other American leagues, was the first game of a doubleheader with the Brazilian national team defeating a team of FIFA World All-Stars.[2][3] The matchup between divisions would only be used for six seasons as MLS tried experimenting with different formats. The 1998 All-Star Game placed a team of American MLS players against MLS players from abroad. The 2002 game, the first to use a league-wide all-star team is the only game to feature a national team opponent.

Since then (except in 2004), every opponent has been a foreign club invited by the league. The MLS All-Stars won their first six games before falling to Everton in penalties in 2009. All games from 2005 to 2019 have been against teams from Europe, the majority of which have been from England's Premier League. The European league schedule runs from fall to spring, allowing for a fixture against the MLS All-Stars during the preseasons of teams.[4] The 2020 All-Star Game was to be the first to feature the all-star team from another league, Liga MX; however, that game was cancelled.[5]

The roster is chosen using a mix of fan votes, nominations from the coach, and commissioner's pick. Some players, including English midfielders Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in 2015, have been picked to participate in the All-Star Game despite not playing in club matches.[6] Players who are picked to play in the All-Star Game but refuse to join the team are suspended from one league match.[7]

Roster

For 2014, ten players were chosen by All-Star Game coach Caleb Porter, eleven players were chosen by fan voting (subject to Porter's approval), and two were selected by MLS commissioner Don Garber.[8]

Skills Challenge

The modern incarnation of the MLS All-Star Skills Challenge, introduced in 2018, is a freestyle soccer event that features three-player teams competing against each other in minigames, including a touch-and-volley goal schowcase, a shooting accuracy competition, and a passing-and-shooting challenge.[9] The older version of the skills challenge was retired in 2001 and featured other events, including "goalie wars" and soccer tennis.[10]

Results by team

Team	Winner	Runner-up	Total
MLS All-Stars	9	8	17
MLS East	5[lower-alpha 1]	1	6
MLS West	2[lower-alpha 1]	4	6
Manchester United	2	—	2
Arsenal	1	—	1
Everton	1	—	1
Juventus	1	—	1
Roma	1	—	1
Atlético Madrid	1	—	1
Real Madrid	1	—	1
MLS USA	1	—	1
Chelsea	—	2	2
Fulham	—	1	1
Tottenham Hotspur	—	1	1
West Ham United	—	1	1
Bayern Munich	—	1	1
Guadalajara	—	1	1
Celtic	—	1	1
MLS World	—	1	1
United States	—	1	1

Notes

1. One tie that is counted as a shared win.

Results by nation

Team	Winner	Runner-up	Total
USA	17	14	31
England	4	5	9
Italy	2	—	2
Spain	2	—	2
Germany	—	1	1
Mexico	—	1	1
Scotland	—	1	1
World	—	1	1

Results by year

"East vs. West" (1996–1997)

1996 MLS All-Star Game July 14, 1996	MLS East	3–2	MLS West	Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey
	Ramos  14' Savarese  69' Pittman  88'	Report	Preki  33' Kreis  37'	Attendance: 78,416 Referee: Kevin Stott MVP: Carlos Valderrama

1997 MLS All-Star Game July 9, 1997	MLS East	5–4	MLS West	Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey
	Valderrama  50' Galderisi  63' Warzycha  66' Williams  70' McBride  88'	Report	Washington  11' Campos  44' Takawira  80' Jones  86'	Attendance: 24,816 Referee: Arturo Angeles MVP: Carlos Valderrama

"MLS USA vs. MLS World" (1998)

1998 MLS All-Star Game August 2, 1998	MLS USA	6–1	MLS World	Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida
	T. Ramos  5' Lalas  15' McBride  16' Preki  40' Lassiter  78' Jones  83'	Report	M. Ramos  89'	Attendance: 34,416 Referee: Esse Baharmast MVP: Brian McBride

"East vs. West" (1999–2001)

1999 MLS All-Star Game July 17, 1999	MLS East	4–6	MLS West	Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California
	Lassiter  1' Moore  62' (pen.) Valderrama  73' John  83'	Report	Preki  13', 38' Kosecki  32' Jones  36' Wright  84' Cerritos  89'	Attendance: 23,227 Referee: Sandra Hunt MVP: Preki

2000 MLS All-Star Game July 29, 2000	MLS West	4–9	MLS East	Columbus Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
	Razov  17', 22' Cienfuegos  19' Nowak  44'	Report	Mathis  2' Moreno  36' Valencia  39' Chung  51' Diallo  59', 61' Heaps  65' Washington  67' McBride  76'	Attendance: 23,495 Referee: Paul Tamberino MVP: Mamadou Diallo

2001 MLS All-Star Game July 28, 2001	MLS West	6–6	MLS East	Spartan Stadium, San Jose, California
	Donovan  3', 7', 19', 90+2' Graziani  26' Kovalenko  69'	Report	Chacón  28' McBride  34', 39' Diallo  53' Rooney  84' Catê  87'	Attendance: 23,512 Referee: Noel Kenney MVP: Landon Donovan

"All-Stars vs. Guest" (2002–2003)

2002 MLS All-Star Game August 3, 2002	MLS All-Stars	3–2	United States	RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.
	Kreis  59' Etcheverry  72' Ralston  81'	Report	Donovan  58' Jones  76'	Attendance: 31,096 Referee: Brian Hall MVP: Marco Etcheverry

2003 MLS All-Star Game August 2, 2003	MLS All-Stars	3–1	Guadalajara	Home Depot Center, Carson, California
	Razov  57' Ruiz  68' Beasley  83'	Report	Garcia  66'	Attendance: 27,000 Referee: Kevin Terry MVP: Carlos Ruiz

"East vs. West" (2004)

2004 MLS All-Star Game July 31, 2004	MLS East	3–2	MLS West	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts
	Guevara  20', 22' (pen.) Eskandarian  74'	Report	Ching  43' Kreis  89'	Attendance: 21,378 Referee: Michael Kennedy MVP: Amado Guevara

"All-Stars vs. Europe" (2005–2019)

2005 MLS All-Star Game July 30, 2005	MLS All-Stars	4–1	Fulham	Columbus Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
	Twellman  23' O’Brien  56' Cunningham  85', 89'	Report	Jensen  66' (pen.)	Attendance: 23,309 Referee: Ricardo Valenzuela MVP: Taylor Twellman

2006 MLS All-Star Game August 5, 2006	MLS All-Stars	1–0	Chelsea	Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Illinois
	De Rosario  70'	Report		Attendance: 21,210 Referee: Abbey Okulaja MVP: Dwayne De Rosario

2007 MLS All-Star Game July 19, 2007	MLS All-Stars	2–0	Celtic	Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, Colorado
	Ángel  36' Toja  44'	Report		Attendance: 18,661 Referee: Baldomero Toledo MVP: Juan Pablo Ángel

2008 MLS All-Star Game July 24, 2008	MLS All-Stars	3–2	West Ham United	BMO Field, Toronto, Ontario
	Gómez  27' Blanco  45' De Rosario  70' (pen.)	Report	Ashton  26', 67'	Attendance: 20,844 Referee: Mauricio Navarro MVP: Cuauhtémoc Blanco

2009 MLS All-Star Game July 29, 2009	MLS All-Stars	1–1 (3–4 p)	Everton	Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, Utah
	Davis  26'	Report	Saha  12'	Attendance: 20,124 Referee: Ricardo Salazar MVP: Tim Howard
	Penalties
	Donovan Davis Arnaud Johnson Casey Ljungberg		Vaughan Jô Baines Neville Lescott Rodwell

2010 MLS All-Star Game July 28, 2010	MLS All-Stars	2–5	Manchester United	Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas
	Ching  64' De Rosario  90'	Report	Macheda  1', 13' Gibson  70' Cleverley  73' Hernández  84'	Attendance: 70,728 Referee: Jorge Gonzalez MVP: Federico Macheda

2011 MLS All-Star Game July 27, 2011	MLS All-Stars	0–4	Manchester United	Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey
		Report	Anderson  20' Park Ji-sung  45' Berbatov  52' Welbeck  68'	Attendance: 26,760 Referee: Jair Marrufo MVP: Park Ji-sung

2012 MLS All-Star Game July 25, 2012	MLS All-Stars	3–2	Chelsea	PPL Park, Chester, Pennsylvania
	Wondolowski  21' Pontius  73' Johnson  90+1'	Report	Terry  32' Lampard  58'	Attendance: 19,236 Referee: Baldomero Toledo MVP: Chris Pontius

2013 MLS All-Star Game July 31, 2013	MLS All-Stars	1–3	Roma	Sporting Park, Kansas City, Kansas
20:30	Gonzalez  90+1'	Report	Strootman  4' Florenzi  47' Tallo  68'	Attendance: 21,175 Referee: Hilario Grajeda MVP: Alessandro Florenzi

2014 MLS All-Star Game August 6, 2014	MLS All-Stars	2–1	Bayern Munich	Providence Park, Portland, Oregon
	Wright-Phillips  51' Donovan  70'	Report	Lewandowski  8'	Attendance: 21,733 Referee: Jair Marrufo MVP: Landon Donovan

2015 MLS All-Star Game July 29, 2015	MLS All-Stars	2–1	Tottenham Hotspur	Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, Colorado
	Kaká  20' (pen.) Villa  23'	Report	Kane  37'	Attendance: 18,671 Referee: Ismail Elfath MVP: Kaká

2016 MLS All-Star Game July 28, 2016	MLS All-Stars	1–2	Arsenal	Avaya Stadium, San Jose, California
	Drogba  45+2'	Report	Campbell  10' (pen.) Akpom  87'	Attendance: 18,000 Referee: Chris Penso MVP: Chuba Akpom

2017 MLS All-Star Game August 2, 2017	MLS All-Stars	1–1 (2–4 p)	Real Madrid	Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois
	Dwyer  87'	Report	Mayoral  59'	Attendance: 61,428 Referee: Allen Chapman MVP: Borja Mayoral
	Penalties
	Dwyer Dos Santos Valeri Almirón		Benzema Bale Kovačić Marcelo

2018 MLS All-Star Game August 1, 2018	MLS All-Stars	1–1 (3–5 p)	Juventus	Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
	Martínez  26'	Report	Favilli  21'	Attendance: 72,317 Referee: Robert Sibiga MVP: Josef Martínez
	Penalties
	Zusi Yotún Valeri Wright-Phillips		Fagioli Beltrame Kastanos Fernandes De Sciglio

2019 MLS All-Star Game July 31, 2019	MLS All-Stars	0–3	Atlético Madrid	Exploria Stadium, Orlando, Florida
		Report	Llorente  43' Félix  85' Costa  90+3'	Attendance: 25,527 Referee: Drew Fischer MVP: Marcos Llorente

"All-Stars vs. Liga MX All-Stars" (2020–present)

2021 MLS All-Star Game TBD 2021	MLS All-Stars	TBD	Liga MX All-Stars	Banc of California Stadium, Los Angeles, California
		Report
Note: Originally scheduled for July 29, 2020; postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[11]

References

1. Tansey, Joe (July 30, 2019). "MLS rallies from behind to win Homegrown Game". Pro Soccer USA. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
2. Stephenson, Colinwas (July 14, 1996). "Soccer Fans Get Their Kicks With 2 All-star Games Today". NY Daily News. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
3. Yannis, Alex (July 16, 1996). "SOCCER REPORT". The New York Times. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
4. Tansey, Joe (August 1, 2019). "MLS All-Stars ponder adjustments to All-Star Game format". Pro Soccer USA. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
5. Baxter, Kevin (November 18, 2019). "MLS All-Stars will play top Liga MX players next summer at Banc of California Stadium". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
6. Williams, Bob (July 14, 2015). "Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard selections for MLS All-Star Game 2015 make perfect sense". The Telegraph. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
7. Mendola, Nicholas (July 30, 2018). "Zlatan suspended one match for skipping MLS All Star Game". NBC Sports. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
8. "MLS announces 2014 MLS All-Star Game roster". US Soccer Players. July 21, 2014. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
9. "New MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by Target" (Press release). Major League Soccer. July 1, 2019. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
10. "MLS brings back the skills challenge". US Soccer Players. July 30, 2019. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
11. "MLS All-Star Game, Leagues Cup and Campeones Cup canceled for 2020" (Press release). Major League Soccer. May 19, 2020. Retrieved May 19, 2020.