Major League Soccer Through the Years

Updated August 28, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Sanctioned by U.S. Soccer and FIFA, the international soccer federation. MLS was founded on the heels of the successful 1994 World Cup tournament hosted by the United States and it remains the only FIFA-sanctioned division I outdoor league in the United States. The annual MLS title game is known as the MLS Cup.

Multiple winner: D.C. United (3).

MLS Cup

Year	Winner	Head Coach	Score	Loser	Head Coach	Site
1996	D.C. United	Bruce Arena	3-2	Los Angeles Galaxy	Lothar Osiander	Foxboro, Mass.
1997	D.C. United	Bruce Arena	2-1	Colorado Rapids	Glen Myernick	Washington, D.C.
1998	Chicago Fire	Bob Bradley	2-0	D.C. United	Bruce Arena	Pasadena, Calif.
1999	D.C. United	Thomas Rongen	2-0	Los Angeles Galaxy	Sigi Schmid	Foxboro, Mass.
2000	K.C. Wizards	Bob Gansler	1-0	Chicago Fire	Bob Bradley	Washington, D.C.
2001	San Jose Earthquakes	Frank Yallop	2-1	Los Angeles Galaxy	Sigi Schmid	Columbus, Ohio
2002	Los Angeles Galaxy	Sigi Schmid	1-0 2OT	N.E. Revolution	Steve Nicol	Foxboro, Mass.
2003	San Jose	Frank Yallop	4-2	Chicago	Dave Sarachan	Carson, Calif.

MLS Cup '96

D.C. United, 3-2 (OT)

Oct. 20 at Foxboro Stadium, Foxboro, Mass.

Attendance: 34,643

	1	2	OT
Los Angeles Galaxy	1	1	0	-2
D.C. United	0	2	1	-3

First Half: LA-Eduardo Hurtado (Mauricio Cienfuegos), 5th minute.

Second Half: LA-Chris Armas (unassisted), 56th; DC-Tony Sanneh (Marco Etcheverry), 73rd; DC-Shawn Medved (unassisted), 82nd.

Overtime: DC-Eddie Pope (Etcheverry), 94th.

MVP: Marco Etcheverry, D.C. United, Midfielder

MLS Cup '97

D.C. United, 2-1

Oct. 26 at RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 57,431

	1	2
Colorado Rapids	0	1	-1
D.C. United	1	1	-2

First Half: DC-Jaime Moreno (Tony Sanneh, David Vaudreuil), 37th minute.

Second Half: DC-Sanneh (John Harkes, Richie Williams), 68th; COL-Adrian Paz (David Patino, Matt Kmosko), 75th.

MVP: Jaime Moreno, D.C. United, Forward

MLS Cup '98

Chicago Fire, 2-0

Oct. 25 at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif.

Attendance: 51,350

	1	2
D.C. United	0	0	-0
Chicago	2	0	-2

First Half: CHI-Jerzy Podbrozny (Peter Nowak, Ante Razov), 29th minute; CHI-Diego Gutierrez (Nowak), 45th.

MVP: Nowak, Chicago, Midfielder

MLS Cup '99

D.C. United, 2-0

Nov. 21 at Foxboro Stadium, Foxboro, Mass.

Attendance: 44,910

	1	2
D.C. United	2	0	-2
Los Angeles	0	0	-0

First Half: DC-Jaime Moreno (Roy Lassiter), 19th minute; DC-Ben Olsen (unassisted), 48th

MVP: Olsen, D.C. United, Midfielder

MLS Cup 2000

Kansas City Wizards, 1-0

Oct. 15 at RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 39,159

	1	2
Chicago	0	0	-0
Kansas City	1	0	-1

First Half: DC- Miklos Molnar (Chris Klein), 11th minute.

MVP: Tony Meola, Kansas City, Goalkeeper

MLS Cup 2001

San Jose Earthquakes, 2-1

Oct. 21 at Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

Attendance: 21,626

	1	2	OT
San Jose	1	0	1	-2
Los Angeles	1	0	0	-1

First Half: LA-Luis Hernandez (Greg Vanney, Kevin Hartman), 21st minute; SJ-Landon Donovan (Ian Russell, Richard Mulrooney), 43rd.

Overtime: SJ-Dwayne DeRosario (Ronnie Ekelund, Zak Ibsen), 96th.

MVP: Dwayne DeRosario, San Jose, Forward

MLS Cup 2002

Los Angeles Galaxy, 1-0 (2 OT)

Oct. 20 at Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, Mass.

Attendance: 61,316

	1	2	1OT	2OT
Los Angeles	0	0	0	1	-1
New England	0	0	0	0	-0

First Half: LA-Luis Hernandez (Greg Vanney, Kevin Hartman), 21st minute; SJ-Landon Donovan (Ian Russell, Richard Mulrooney), 43rd.

2nd OT:LA-Carlos Ruiz, (Tyrone Marshall, Chris Albright), 113th minute.

MVP: Carlos Ruiz, Los Angeles, F

MLS Cup 2003

San Jose Earthquakes, 4-2

Nov. 23 at Home Depot Center, Carson, Calif.

Attendance: 27,000

	1	2
San Jose	2	2	-4
Chicago	0	2	-2

First Half: SJ- Ronnie Ekelund (unassisted), 5th minute; SJLandon Donovan (Jamil Walker), 38th. Second Half: CHIDaMarcus Beasley (Andy Williams), 49th; SJ-Richard Mulrooney (Craig Waibel), 50th; CHI-own goal (Chris Roner), 54th; SJ-Donovan (Dwayne De Rosario, Brian Mullan), 71st.

MVP: Landon Donovan, San Jose, F

Regular Season

Most Valuable Player
1996	Carlos Valderrama, Tampa Bay
1997	Preki, Kansas City
1998	Marco Etcheverry, D.C.
1999	Jason Kreis, Dallas
2000	Tony Meola, Kansas City
2001	Alex Pineda Chacón, Miami
2002	Carlos Ruiz, LA
2003	Preki, Kansas City

Leading Scorer		G	A	Pts
1996	Roy Lassiter, Tampa Bay	27	4	58
1997	Preki, Kansas City	12	17	41
1998	Stern John, Columbus	26	5	57
1999	Jason Kreis, Dallas	18	15	51
2000	Mamadou Diallo, Tampa Bay	26	4	56
2001	Alex Pineda Chacón	19	9	47
2002	Taylor Twellman, New England	23	6	52
2003	Preki, Kansas City	12	17	41
2004	Pat Noonan, New England	11	8	30
	& Amado Guevara, MetroStars	10	10	30