CHESTER, Pa. — When asked about MLS changing its calendar to align with the traditional European season, Mauricio Pochettino’s reaction did not leave room for interpretation.
“Well done and congratulations,” the USMNT coach said Friday, the day before his team faced Paraguay just outside of Philadelphia. “Fantastic, I think. Great decision.”
The vote to flip the MLS calendar — which traditionally has run, in essence, congruent to the MLB season, with the year starting in late winter/early spring and running through late in the fall, as opposed to European leagues, which go from late August through May — was finally pushed through this week.
Though the calendar change won’t happen in time for the 2026 World Cup and likely will lead to some weather issues for teams in the league’s northernmost cities, MLS’ oddball calendar has hamstrung the league in the past.
It’s out of sync with European transfer windows and international windows built to coincide with the European schedule — for example, the current international break is happening amid the MLS playoffs, which takes some wind out of the league’s sails.
To complete the switch, MLS will play a 2026 season as normal, then a shortened “transition season” in early 2027 before going full bore with the new format for a 2027-28 season.
The new calendar will see the season start in July, take a winter break from November to February, then pick back up again in March before concluding in May.
Center back Tim Ream, who spent 13 seasons in England before returning to MLS’ Charlotte F.C. in 2024, called the change “necessary.”
“I think to line up better with, around the world, transfers, the way those work, I think it’s a good thing,” Ream said. “There’s still a good number of things that have to be ironed out. I think it’s good for the league.”
Ream noted more of an “edge” around the USMNT than in the run-up to its last major competition, the 2024 Copa America.
“I think there was probably too much of a comfort [before Copa],” Ream said. “There’s definitely more, not an edge in a nervous, anxiety way, but players are playing with more of an edge.”
Pochettino said he would prefer to bring his intended 26-man roster for the World Cup to camp in May and call in replacements in the event of injury as opposed to having a larger group in camp and whittling it down.
“To be involved, then to go home, I think is [a] more cruel situation than if you call and say we need you because something wrong happened or some player is injured,” Pochettino said.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
