How many teams are in each conference in MLS 2024?

The 2024 MLS regular season is upon us - Leo Messi’s Inter Miami get the show on the road welcoming Real Salt Lake to the DRV PNK stadium in Wednesday’s curtain raiser and the Week 1 action continues on Saturday with 11 games, starting with the champions the Columbus Crew, who begin the defence of their title at home to Atlanta.

It will be Messi’s first full season in Major League Soccer - he arrived midway through the last campaign along with Busquets and Jordi Alba and despite their impact, it was too late to turn the team’s season around. Miami finished the regular season second from bottom, nine points off the playoff place - the only consolation was winning the Leagues Cup, the franchise’s first title. The Herons will be looking to improve on that this season - getting to the playoffs is the main objective.

Inter Miami eyeing more silverware in 2024

Messi and Co will also be battling on several fronts - they enter the CONCACAF Champions Cup at the Round of 16 stage with their first game, against a rival still to be determined, on 7 March. They will be aiming to repeat their success in the Leagues Cup in the summer.

All of the 29 teams involved in this season’s campaign have strengthened their rosters. Luis Suárez and Hugo Lloris are on board at Inter Miami; Luis Muriel and David Brekalo arrived at Orlando City while Aaron Boupendza’s move to Cincy, Sam Surridge to Nashville, Diego Rossi to the Crew and Jovan Mijatovic New York City FC were among the big offseason transfers.

No MLS expansion team

For the first time in a decade, there will be no expansion team joining MLS. St. Louis City SC was the last franchise to join with San Diego FC due to join the league for the 2025 season. That means that the same 29 teams who competed in last year’s campaign will be involved again this year. Similarly, the teams will be divided into two conferences: Eastern and Western.

All 29 teams will play a total of 34 matches during the regular season: 17 at home and 17 away. Eastern Conference teams will play six cross-conference opponents while all Western Conference teams will play six to seven different cross-conference opponents during the season.

When the regular season reaches its conclusion in October, the top seven teams from each conference will automatically qualify to the Round One best-of-three playoff series while the next two teams in both conference standings will qualify for a single game, instant knockout MLS Cup Playoff Wild Card match. The winners of each Wild Card game will earn a spot in the Round One Best-of-3 series.