The Major League Soccer season is right around the corner and every new season records are made and some are broken. Each new season allows every team to think big and build a squad towards winning MLS Cup at the end of the year.
The Los Angeles Galaxy is the team that has won the most MLS titles, while the Seattle Sounders have played in 4 of the last 5 finals. Not all records are memorable to some, as the MetroStars, who played arguably the worst season of a team in 1999 lost 25 games.
Let’s review some team and individual records as we prepare for the upcoming season, some might surprise you, others not so much. Here are 5 records you should keep in mind for the start of the MLS 2021 season.
MLS All-Time Leading Goal Scorer
Chris Wondolowski (Getty)
Chris Wondolowski is the league’s all-time leading goal scorer with 166 goals, currently with the San Jose Earthquakes the 38-year-old has scored 162 of them with the Quakes. Kei Kamara is the closest active player with 130 goals.
MLS teams with most wins in the regular season
1998 Marco Etcheverry playing for DC United (Getty)
The 1998 D.C. United team is tied as the side with the most winsof any team in league history. That season, in Bruce Arena’s final year in charge, United won 24 games. Over in the West, the Los Angeles Galaxy also recorded 24 wins. LAFC is the team that finished a season with the most points (72) in 2019.
MLS player with most goals in a season
Carlos Vela (Getty)
That honor goes to Mexican super star Carlos Vela, in 2019 Vela scored 34 goals in a sensational run throughout the season. That same season Zlatan Ibrahimović scored 30 goals, while 4 players are tied with 27 in one season.
Most goals scored by a team in one MLS game
Harut Karapetyan (Getty)
In 1998, in a strange game, the Los Angeles Galaxy scored 8 goals against the then Dallas Burn. The match ended 8-1 and Harut Karapetyan scored a hat-trick in 5 minutes. The game is also the first time an MLS player scored from a corner kick; it was Mexican international Damián Álvarez for the Dallas Burn.
Who has won the most MLS Cups?
Landon Donovan (Getty)
Landon Donovan has won the most titles of any player in MLS history, at six championships. 2001, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2012, and 2014 were the seasons Donovan lifted the cup, while Jeff Agoos, Todd Dunivant, and Brian Mullan have won 5.
