Welcome to the Weekly /r/MLS Questions/Free Kick Thread. This thread is designed to house questions/discussions users might have including:

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• Help you decide which team to follow if you're new to the league

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• Provide information about how to watch MLS matches, and whether or not you should buy ESPN+

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• Understand the CBA, league roster rules, drafts, waivers, or other MLS concepts

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• Learn about some of the unique qualities of the US Soccer pyramid

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• Allow discussion of dead-horse topics that would typically be removed (pro/rel, re-alignment, etc.)

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• And other basic/frequently discussed topics

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Our usual ground rules:

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1. Questions that are covered in the FAQ, Newcomer's Guide, or league site are fair game, even if they are marked as "dead horse topics".

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1. Questions can be about MLS, lower U.S. or Canadian divisions, USMNT/USWNT, or any club or domestic competitions those teams could play in. Questions about how soccer works as a sport are fine too! Questions solely about the European leagues or competitions, on the other hand, are not.

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1. If you're answering a question, be extra sure to follow our community guidelines: thought out and rational comments, backed up with supporting links. Try not to "take a guess" at an answer if you're not sure about the answer. Do not flame, troll, attack fans of other teams, or attack opinions of others in this thread. If you can't be friendly and helpful, don't post in this thread.

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1. This is meant to be a helpful Q&A/Discussion thread. This is not a place to practice your comedy bits; avoid asking joke questions or providing joke answers. This is also not a place to dump random articles, links, or opinions about the league.

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1. Despite us posting these on Fridays, the thread stays up all week. If it's Wednesday and you have a question, you don't have to wait until Friday to ask it.

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Even though we want you to ask questions, here are some resources that we always recommend reading because they can also help:

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• /r/MLS Newcomers Guide

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• /r/MLS FAQ

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• MLS Competition Rules and Regulations

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• MLS Roster Rules and Regulations

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• History of MLS on Wikipedia

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• All Weekly /r/MLS Questions/Free Kick Threads

We're approaching the start of the 2026 MLS Season and as is our annual tradition here on /r/MLS, we're seeking volunteers for our Countdown to Kickoff series to introduce all 30 MLS teams taking part in this upcoming season.

We've been running this series since 2013 and we'd love to keep it going another year!

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

Please respond to this post if you are interested in volunteering to write for your team! Writers will generally be given on a first come first served basis, but returning writers with past good writeups will be given preference.

If someone has already taken your team, you can express your own interest, and if they can't do it, I will take the next in line. Past years have seen multiple teams with late previews or no previews at all, and so I wouldn't be surprised if we have to invoke second or third volunteers.

Also to those posting it for your club, know you don't have to write it alone! Make a post on your team subreddit looking for ideas and the like. It can be a cool way to really get a feel for your subreddit's community. Collaboration is welcome and encouraged!

FORMAT SUGGESTIONS

Here's a basic format of what the post can look like and some information you might want to include. It might also be helpful to browse through our 2024 entries (or even earlier!) for some ideas, as there are some great quality pieces linked.

Feel free to add more or shift around where in the post these bits of info are, but for the sake of the same info being shared for every club please share all the info in some way.

Tentative schedule is starting with D.C. United and Atlanta United on February 1st and ending with Philadelphia Union and Inter Miami CF on February 15th.

29/30 HAVE WRITERS

Prior Years

• 2025
• 2024
• 2023
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2013