MLS in 2025: Highlights from a defining season

San Diego’s slick style

The greatest debut season in MLS history happened in 1998, when the nascent Chicago Fire stomped out the competition to win MLS Cup in its first year as a professional entity. The second-greatest, though, happened in 2025, when San Diego FC burst onto the scene and showed the world just how far a team can go with a strong sense of style.

From its opening fixture against the LA Galaxy in February, San Diego never wavered. It played fast-paced, possession-based soccer built around clever build-up play, even when it was under pressure. It was a bold move and one that paid off handsomely. “Talk is cheap, I understand that,” coach Mikey Varas said. “But we’re going to be brave to play. When teams come to press us, we’re going to find solutions under the press.”

San Diego’s bravery carried it all the way to the top of the Western Conference. By sticking to its daring tactics and refusing to yield, it set a fantastic precedent for expansion clubs of the future: you don’t have to sacrifice your style to be successful in this league.

A solid World Cup pipeline

NYCFC’s Matt Freese. Columbus’s Max Arfsten. Orlando’s Alex Freeman. Vancouver’s Sebastian Berhalter. Seattle’s Cristian Roldan. Salt Lake’s Diego Luna. When 2025 began, only one of them—Roldan, the respected vet at age 30—had made any appearances for the U.S. Men's National Team. As the year draws to a close, all six are key members of the squad and locked-in candidates for the 2026 World Cup roster.

These six don’t just prove that MLS is home to internationally competitive players: they prove that it’s capable of creating them. MLS has built some truly world-class youth development pipelines behind the scenes, and this crop of MLS-based American stars is proof that those pipelines are working...just in time for a World Cup on home soil.

MLS will kick off its 2026 season in late February.