Today the U.S. Soccer Federation, in conjunction with the Canada Soccer Association and the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol, announced a historic unified bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup which would see the tournament held across three countries for the first time: the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
In the 23 years since the last time the World Cup was held on North American soil in 1994 in the U.S., the North American soccer landscape has completely transformed. Born out of the 1994 tournament, MLS has grown into one of the most exciting and well-established soccer leagues in the world, bringing top-flight professional soccer to millions of fans across the U.S. and Canada.
Starting in 1996 with just 10 teams, MLS now features 22 teams across the U.S. and Canada with a stated goal to expand to 28 clubs, boasts 17 stadiums built with soccer in mind, and claims a world-class player pool featuring players from 67 countries worldwide. With so much growth in the wake of World Cup ’94, imagine what MLS can accomplish in the lead up to 2026 and beyond.
The last time the world’s most important sporting event was hosted on North American soil…
- MLS did not exist! As part of the U.S. being awarded the 1994 tournament, the U.S. Soccer Federation pledged to create a Division 1 professional soccer league. MLS was officially born two years later.
- One stadium in use at the start of Major League Soccer is still in use in the league today -- RFK Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C.
- Eight of the nine markets which hosted World Cup matches now have an MLS team to call their own: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York/New Jersey, Orlando, San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C. (Only Detroit does not have an MLS team.)
- Twenty of the 22 players (listed below) who played for the U.S. squad in World Cup '94 all went on to play in MLS. Of the two that did not, Fernando Clavijo was a head coach in the league for seven seasons and now serves as Technical Director at FC Dallas.
- Of the 602 players currently playing in Major League Soccer, 140 were not even born when the World Cup kicked off June 17, 1994.
- MLS President Mark Abbott and U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati were both vice presidents in the World Cup '94 Organizing Committee.
Players who played for the U.S. in World Cup ’94 and went on to play in MLS:
- Tony Meola
- Mike Lapper
- Mike Burns
- Cle Kooiman
- Thomas Dooley
- John Harkes
- Earnie Stewart
- Tab Ramos
- Roy Wegerle
- Eric Wynalda
- Juergen Sommer
- Cobi Jones
- Frank Klopas
- Joe-Max Moore
- Mike Sorber
- Marcelo Balboa
- Brad Friedel
- Claudio Reyna
- Paul Caligiuri
- Alexi Lalas
