Soccer

What live soccer in the US includes

Live soccer in the United States comes in four forms: the domestic leagues, led by Major League Soccer for men and the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) for women; national team matches for the USMNT and USWNT; summer tours and friendlies by foreign clubs; and major international tournaments, which in 2025 and 2026 brought the expanded FIFA Club World Cup and the FIFA World Cup to American stadiums. Each behaves differently as a ticket market.

• League matches run on a fixed calendar with season ticket holders and broad single-match availability.
• National team matches are scattered through FIFA's international windows (set weeks in the calendar when clubs release players) and sell around presales.
• Club tours are one-off events in large NFL stadiums, announced in spring for July and August.
• Tournaments are sold centrally by the organizer, usually FIFA, in phased sales.

The leagues: MLS and NWSL

Major League Soccer has 30 clubs (27 in the US, three in Canada), each playing 34 league matches. The 2026 season runs from February 21 to November 7 with playoffs into December, and the league moves to a summer-to-spring calendar in 2027. Clubs play mostly in soccer-specific stadiums of 18,000 to 30,000 seats, though Atlanta United plays at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Seattle Sounders FC at Lumen Field, Charlotte FC at Bank of America Stadium, the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium and Chicago Fire FC at Soldier Field. The Major League Soccer (MLS) page covers the league in depth.

The NWSL began play in 2013 with eight teams and has 16 in 2026, after Boston Legacy FC and Denver Summit FC joined. Teams play 30 regular-season matches in 2026, up from 26, on a season that runs from March to November, with the top eight teams reaching the playoffs. Gotham FC won the 2025 championship and the Kansas City Current won the 2025 NWSL Shield for the best regular-season record. The league's single-game attendance record, 40,091, was set on August 23, 2025, when Bay FC hosted the Washington Spirit at Oracle Park, a baseball stadium.

The 2026 World Cup and the 2025 Club World Cup

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, held June 11 to July 19, 2026, across Canada, Mexico and the United States, was the first with 48 teams and 104 matches. Eleven US stadiums hosted, each under a temporary FIFA name: Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta), Gillette Stadium (Boston), AT&T Stadium (Dallas), Houston's NRG Stadium, GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City), SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles), Hard Rock Stadium (Miami), MetLife Stadium (New York New Jersey), Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia), Levi's Stadium (San Francisco Bay Area) and Lumen Field (Seattle). By June 25 the tournament had passed the total-attendance record set in 1994. Spain won the final at MetLife Stadium on July 19, beating defending champion Argentina 1–0 after extra time before 80,663 fans.

A year earlier, the first 32-team FIFA Club World Cup ran from June 14 to July 13, 2025, in 11 US cities, including Lincoln Financial Field, the Rose Bowl Stadium, Bank of America Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Hard Rock Stadium, Lumen Field and MetLife Stadium. Chelsea beat Paris Saint-Germain 3–0 in the final at MetLife Stadium, and the tournament drew about 2.49 million fans over 63 matches. Ticketing was a lesson for buyers: FIFA used dynamic pricing (prices that move with demand), then lowered prices for many matches, so some early buyers paid more than fans who waited.

The expanded Club World Cup is scheduled every four years. In the years between, FIFA crowns an annual club champion through the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, which has held its finals in Qatar.

European club tours and friendlies

Each July and early August, European clubs tour the US for preseason friendlies, almost always in NFL stadiums that can sell 50,000 to 80,000 seats. These matches are exhibitions: coaches rotate whole lineups at halftime, and stars recently back from international duty may not play at all. The appeal is seeing a club you normally watch on television, in person, at home.

• Premier League Summer Series: a league-run preseason event in the US. The 2023 edition, with Chelsea, Newcastle, Brighton, Aston Villa, Brentford and Fulham, played at venues including Lincoln Financial Field and Mercedes-Benz Stadium; the 2024 edition was canceled; the 2025 edition, with Manchester United, West Ham, Everton and Bournemouth, played in Atlanta, Chicago and East Rutherford.
• Individual club tours: Arsenal F.C., for example, played Manchester United at SoFi Stadium and Liverpool at Lincoln Financial Field on its 2024 US tour.

Tour matches go on sale through the promoter, and demand depends on the clubs: two famous teams in one stadium sell far better than a single club against a local side. The Premier League page covers English soccer for traveling fans.

Where to sit at a soccer match

Soccer seating rewards height more than closeness. Because the action spreads across a field roughly 110 to 120 yards long, a seat 15 to 30 rows up along the sideline shows the shape of the game, the space players run into and the offside line, while front-row seats flatten everything into the near touchline.

• Best overall: midfield, lower or second level, between the two penalty areas.
• Best value: the second level near the corner flag, or the upper sideline in a soccer-specific stadium, where even the top rows are fairly close.
• Best atmosphere: the supporters' section behind one goal, where fans stand and sing for the whole match. It is an experience in itself, but you will not sit down.
• Seats to avoid: low rows directly behind a goal, which see little of the far half, and upper end-zone corners in NFL stadiums, which are very far from play for soccer.

In NFL stadiums, also think about the sun for summer afternoon kickoffs: the west-facing sideline catches late-day glare. For specific stadiums, the guides to MetLife Stadium, AT&T Stadium and SoFi Stadium describe the bowl and levels in detail.

Buying soccer tickets and first-match tips

For league matches, clubs sell through season memberships first and single matches second, and most regular-season matches leave resale inventory available until kickoff. National team matches and tournament games are different: they sell in phases, with presales for registered supporters before a general sale, and the most attractive matches can be gone at face value within hours.

• Expect no clock stoppages: 45-minute halves run continuously, so arrive before kickoff.
• Check the bag policy: NFL stadiums apply their clear-bag rules to soccer. As of 2026 these vary by venue; check the stadium's current policy before you go.
• Learn the colors: at tour matches and internationals, fans of both sides often sit together, but supporters' groups cluster behind the goals.
• Watch for lineup news: for friendlies and tour matches, a star's participation is never guaranteed.

Schedules for the national teams are published by U.S. Soccer, and NWSL fixtures by the NWSL.

Sources

• Wikipedia – Major League Soccer
• Wikipedia – 2026 Major League Soccer season
• Wikipedia – National Women's Soccer League
• Wikipedia – 2026 FIFA World Cup
• Wikipedia – 2026 FIFA World Cup final
• Wikipedia – 2025 FIFA Club World Cup
• Wikipedia – Premier League Summer Series
• Sports Travel Magazine – Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal to tour US for 2024