By Daniel Feuerstein | New York, NY | August 27th, 2026
Major League Soccer is moving to the International Calendar performance schedule after the current and sprint season to align itself with the majority of the world. That also means their third-division league, MLS Next Pro, has officially announced it will also move to the international calendar for the 2027-2028 season. Now both leagues representing MLS will align with the rest of the world.
MLS Next Pro will also have a sprint season
When the new year begins, MLS Next Pro will have a sprint season just like MLS. Both conferences will play a total of 14 matches, and they will still have four rounds of the playoffs to earn that MLS Next Pro Championship. Those games will also start around the middle of February till late April, and the playoffs will begin running till late May when the Final will also be played.
The new 2027-28 MLS Next Pro Season
The new regular season for MLS Next Pro will have 28 matches per club, and it will start in the middle of July 2027 till the middle of December 2027 for a winter break. The second half of the season will continue from early February 2028 till early May. Then the playoffs and the championship final in early June for the MLS Next Pro Championship. So as MLS Next Pro begins in July of next year, maybe we will see MLS either start at the same time or a little bit later when they begin their international Calendar journey as well.
“This is a pivotal chapter for MLS NEXT Pro and the sport of soccer in our country,” said Eddie Pope, SVP, Competition & Operations, MLS NEXT Pro and SVP, MLS Sporting Development. “With our strategic partnership with KKR announced earlier this year, the tremendous momentum surrounding the FIFA World Cup this summer, and the transition to a new competition calendar in 2027, we are very excited about the next phase of growth for our league.”
The first step of adjusting to a new future for the league and the game has started. Hopefully more will come later down the road, but for now, this is a positive, and more changes need to be made to make it so much better.
Major League Soccer’s MLS Next Pro is joining them for the move toward the international calendar.
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