The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer. Beginning with the 2008 MLS Cup winner, subsequent teams will receive the redesigned MLS Cup trophy, named the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy [1] [2], for his long-standing commitment to MLS. The previous trophy was named the Alan I. Rothenberg Trophy, after the founding chairman of MLS.

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MLS Cups

Eastern (1996-Present)

Western (1996-Present)

Central (2000-2001)

Year	Date	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Venue	City	Attendance
1996	October 20	D.C. United	3–2 OT	Los Angeles Galaxy	Foxboro Stadium	Foxboro, MA	34,643
1997	October 26	D.C. United (2)	2–1	Colorado Rapids	RFK Stadium	Washington, DC	57,431
1998	October 25	Chicago Fire	2–0	D.C. United	Rose Bowl	Pasadena, CA	51,350
1999	November 21	D.C. United (3)	2–0	Los Angeles Galaxy	Foxboro Stadium (2)	Foxboro, MA (2)	44,910
2000	October 15	Kansas City Wizards	1–0	Chicago Fire	RFK Stadium (2)	Washington, DC (2)	39,159
2001	October 21	San Jose Earthquakes	2–1 OT	Los Angeles Galaxy	Columbus Crew Stadium	Columbus, OH	21,626
2002	October 20	Los Angeles Galaxy	1–0 2OT	New England Revolution	Gillette Stadium	Foxboro, MA (3)	61,316
2003	November 23	San Jose Earthquakes (2)	4–2	Chicago Fire	Home Depot Center	Carson, CA	27,000
2004	November 14	D.C. United (4)	3–2	Kansas City Wizards	Home Depot Center (2)	Carson, CA (2)	25,797
2005	November 13	Los Angeles Galaxy (2)	1–0 OT	New England Revolution	Pizza Hut Park	Frisco, TX	21,193
2006	November 12	Houston Dynamo	1–1 (4–3) PK's	New England Revolution	Pizza Hut Park (2)	Frisco, TX (2)	22,427
2007	November 18	Houston Dynamo (2)	2–1	New England Revolution	RFK Stadium (3)	Washington, DC (3)	39,859
2008	November 23	Columbus Crew	3–1	New York Red Bulls	Home Depot Center (3)	Carson, CA (3)	27,000
2009	November 22	TBD	TBD	TBD	Qwest Field	Seattle, WA

;Notes

• Until 2003, MLS Cup utilized "sudden death" or "golden goal" overtime, i.e. the match ended if a goal were scored at any point in overtime. Beginning in 2004, two 15:00 periods are played in full; if the match is still tied, a Penalty Kick shootout is used to decide the match.
• Bold - MLS Supporters' Shield Winner
• Italics - Sellout Crowd

MLS Cup successes by club

Club [3]	Won	Lost	Appearances
D.C. United	4	1	5
Los Angeles Galaxy	2	3	5
Houston Dynamo	2	0	2
San Jose Earthquakes	2	0	2
Chicago Fire	1	2	3
Kansas City Wizards	1	1	2
Columbus Crew	1	0	1
New England Revolution	0	4	4
Colorado Rapids	0	1	1
New York Red Bulls	0	1	1

Most Valuable Player Award recipients

Year	Winner	Position	Team
1996	Marco Etcheverry	Midfielder	D.C. United
1997	Jaime Moreno	Forward	D.C. United
1998	Peter Nowak	Midfielder	Chicago Fire
1999	Ben Olsen	Midfielder	D.C. United
2000	Tony Meola	Goalkeeper	Kansas City Wizards
2001	Dwayne De Rosario	Forward	San Jose Earthquakes
2002	Carlos Ruiz	Forward	Los Angeles Galaxy
2003	Landon Donovan	Forward	San Jose Earthquakes
2004	Alecko Eskandarian	Forward	D.C. United
2005	Guillermo Ramírez	Midfielder	Los Angeles Galaxy
2006	Brian Ching	Forward	Houston Dynamo
2007	Dwayne De Rosario	Midfielder	Houston Dynamo
2008	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Midfielder	Columbus Crew

MLS Scudetto

At the start of the 2006 season, MLS created their version of the scudetto (Italian: "small shield"), a symbol worn on the jersey by the team who won the previous season's Serie A (the top Italian league).

The MLS scudetto was originally a curved, triangular badge featuring a backdrop of the American flag behind a replica of the Alan I. Rothenberg MLS Cup trophy. It was redesigned for the 2008 season after the change to the MLS Cup trophy. It is now an oval shaped black badge with the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy in the middle. The MLS scudetto is worn by the winning team the season following the victory. It is only during the subsequent season (two years after winning the championship), that the team adds a star — a common soccer signifier of titles won — above the team logo. The team can display the star on other items beside their jersey in the year after winning the Cup, but only if the scudetto is not shown.

• The 2005 MLS Cup champion, the Los Angeles Galaxy, was the first team to wear the scudetto and now has a second star above the team shield on the jersey during the 2007 season.
• The Houston Dynamo was the first team to win subsequent championships after the scudetto was unveiled. In such case, the team will wear the scudetto for another season; however, the sanctioned star will be added to the team logo.
• The Columbus Crew will be the first team to wear the redesigned scudetto.

Halftime shows

• 1996 Reel 2 Reel
• 1997
• 1998
• 1999 Christina Aguilera
• 2000 Innocense
• 2001 Our Lady Peace
• 2002 Paulina Rubio
• 2003 Michelle Branch
• 2004 Switchfoot
• 2005 The Click Five
• 2006 Under the Influence of Giants
• 2007 Jimmy Eat World
• 2008 Chester French and Colby O'Donis

Trivia

• The most successful team in MLS Cup playoffs: D.C. United, winning the title four times (1996, 1997, 1999 and 2004).
• The other multiple winners:
  San Jose Earthquakes (2001 and 2003)
  Los Angeles Galaxy (2002 and 2005)
  Houston Dynamo (2006, 2007)
• Two teams have successfully defended the MLS Cup: D.C. United (1996 and 1997) and Houston Dynamo (2006 and 2007)
• D.C. United qualified for four successive MLS Cup finals between 1996 to 1999, a standing record as of 2007.
• Teams with most appearances (5) in MLS Cup finals:
  DC United: 4 Wins (1996, 1997, 1999 and 2004); 1 Loss (1998).
  Los Angeles Galaxy: 2 Wins (2002 and 2005); 3 Losses (1996, 1999 and 2001).
• MLS Cup winners who also won the MLS Supporters' Shield (having finished first in the regular season):
  D.C. United (1997 and 1999),
  Kansas City Wizards (2000)
  Los Angeles Galaxy (2002) and
  Columbus Crew (2008)
• Only 2 teams won MLS Cup after winning every game in the playoffs:
  D.C. United (won all 5 postseason games in 1997).
  Chicago Fire (won all 5 postseason games in 1998).
• The runner-up who lost the most playoff games was Chicago Fire in 2000, with 3 losses (all in regulation).
• The MLS Cup winner with the worst regular-season record was Los Angeles Galaxy in 2005; they finished 4th in the Western Conference and 9th of 12 overall, with a 0.500 record (13-13-6) and negative (-1) goal difference (44-45).
• The MLS Cup winner with the 2nd-worst regular-season record was D.C. United in 1996, who finished 2nd in the Eastern Conference, with a 0.500 record (16-16). They qualify as the second worst regular season record by virtue of more regular season wins the 2005 LA Galaxy.
• The 3rd-worst regular-season record was that of D.C. United in 2004; they had a record of 11-10-9 for a winning percentage of .517.
• The MLS Cup runner-up with the worst regular-season record was Colorado Rapids in 1997, finishing 4th in the Western Conference, with a 0.438 record (14-18 and a negative goal difference (50-59).
• The 2nd-worst regular-season record for an MLS Cup runner-up was that of the New England Revolution in 2002 - they finished 1st in the Eastern Conference but only 5th out of 10 teams overall, with a 0.464 record (12-14-2) and a zero goal difference (49-49).
• The MLS Cup winners who also won the US Open Cup in the same season ("The Double"):
  D.C. United (1996),
  Chicago Fire (1998) and
  Los Angeles Galaxy (2005).
• All but three MLS Cup finals (2001, 2006 and 2007) involved at least a team that finished in the top two overall during the regular season. Some finals even featured both the Shield winners and runners-up (1999, 2000 and 2003).
• Up to 2005, Los Angeles Galaxy had been the only team to have qualified for playoffs every season. However, this proud record has come to an end in 2006, as they were knocked out of the playoffs for the first time in their 11-year history. ^[4]
• Defending MLS Cup champions who have failed to qualify for the postseason:
  D.C. United (2000) and
  Los Angeles Galaxy (2006).
• Houston Dynamo (2006 and 2007) and San Jose Earthquakes (2001 and 2003) have been the only champions winning every final they contested. It is worth noting that the San Jose Earthquakes were moved to Houston minus their history, meaning that the same core of players are undefeated in contested finals.
• Whenever San Jose Earthquakes / Houston Dynamo qualified for the playoffs, they either gone all the way to win the Cup or lost out in the first round.
• In 2006, Houston Dynamo became the first club to win in a penalty shootout, beating the New England Revolution 4-3. Both teams scored in the second extra time session, resulting in a 1-1 draw, to extend the match to a shootout.
• Houston Dynamo (2006), Chicago Fire (1998) and D.C. United (1996), were the only teams to have won MLS Cup in their debut seasons.
• New England Revolution was the only team to lose consecutive finals (2005, 2006 and 2007). In fact, they have lost all four MLS Cups that they have been involved in due to the fact that they also lost in 2002.
• The 2001 & 2008 MLS Cups were the only finals contested by teams from the same conference: both San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles Galaxy were from MLS Western Conference in 2001, while both Columbus Crew and New York Red Bulls were from MLS Eastern Conference in 2008. Both match-ups were contested at the home venue for a team from a different conference. The 2001 MLS Cup was played at the home venue for a Central Division team, the Columbus Crew. The 2008 MLS Cup was played at the home venue for two Western Conference teams, the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA.
• Only two Eastern Conference teams have ever won the MLS Cup: D. C. United and the Columbus Crew. All other cup winners have come from the Western Conference. Chicago and Kansas City both won the MLS Cup while in the Western Conference even though they are now in the Eastern Conference.
• In only two seasons have both teams been competing in their first ever MLS Cup: the inaugural 1996 season and 2008.

Notes and references

1. Soccer By Ives: New MLS Cup trophy unveiled
2. Major League Soccer: MLS unveils redesigned MLS Cup trophy
3. The latest names are used for franchises who had name changes,e.g. FC Dallas was formerly known as Dallas Burn.
4. Galaxy playoff hopes erased by FCD http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20061008&content_id=75057&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp

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Broadcasters

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American Cup Competitions

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Eastern Conference			Western Conference
Chicago Fire	Columbus Crew	D.C. United	Chivas USA	Colorado Rapids	FC Dallas
Kansas City Wizards	New England Revolution	New York Red Bulls	Houston Dynamo	Los Angeles Galaxy	Real Salt Lake
Toronto FC			San Jose Earthquakes	Seattle Sounders FC
Expansion : Philadelphia Union (2010), Portland Timbers (2011), Vancouver (2011)
Seasons (Records and Statistics) · Supporters' Shield · All-Star Game · MLS Cup (Playoffs)
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