MLS Cup Playoffs format, bracket: What to know for penalty kicks, extra time

The 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs are upon us, and the league's postseason can feature as many as 33 playoff games over 46 days from the wild-card matches on Oct. 22 to MLS Cup on Dec. 6.

Over the course of its 30 seasons, Major League Soccer has tinkered with its playoff format frequently. The league's current playoff format has been in use since 2023, when it expanded both the playoff field and number of games played.

Here is how the MLS Cup Playoffs work:

MLS playoff format

There are nine teams from each conference in the playoffs. The field includes:

• The top nine finishers in the Eastern Conference
• The top nine finishers in the Western Conference

The teams that finish in the eighth- and ninth-place spots in each conference take part in wild-card matches. The winners of those matches will then play the first-place finisher of their respective conference.

The playoffs have five rounds: Wild card, Round 1, conference semifinals, conference finals and MLS Cup.

Here is how each round is formatted:

Wild-card matches

• No. 8 seed hosts No. 9 seed

The winner of the wild-card matches advance to Round 1.

Matches tied after 90 minutes of regulation go to a penalty kick shootout.

Round 1

• No. 1 seed vs. wild-card winner (No. 8 vs. No. 9)
• No. 2 seed vs. No. 7 seed
• No. 3 seed vs. No. 6 seed
• No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 seed

Round 1 is a best-of-three series following a home-away-home format with the higher seed hosting the first match, the lower seed hosting the second and — if necessary — the higher hosts a third match.

There is no aggregate score kept, and matches tied after 90 minutes of regulation go to a penalty kick shootout.

Conference semifinals

• Winner of No. 1-No. 8/9 series vs. winner of No. 4-No. 5 series
• Winner of No. 3-No. 6 series vs. winner of No. 2-No. 7 series

The MLS playoff bracket is fixed, so there is no reseeding of teams following Round 1. The conference semifinal matches are hosted by the higher playoff seeds.

Conference finals

• Eastern Conference final: Highest advancing seed vs. lowest advancing seed
• Western Conference final: Highest advancing seed vs. lowest advancing seed

The conference final matches are hosted by the higher playoff seed.

MLS Cup

• Eastern Conference Final winner vs. Western Conference Final winner

MLS Cup is hosted by the finalist with the highest finish in the Supporters' Shield standings.

2025 MLS playoff seeds

Eastern Conference

1. Philadelphia Union
2. FC Cincinnati
3. Inter Miami
4. FC Charlotte
5. New York City FC
6. Nashville SC
7. Columbus Crew
8. Chicago Fire
9. Orlando City SC

Western Conference

1. San Diego FC
2. Vancouver Whitecaps
3. Los Angeles FC
4. Minnesota United
5. Seattle Sounders
6. Austin FC
7. FC Dallas
8. Portland Timbers
9. Real Salt Lake

2025 MLS playoff schedule

• Oct. 22: Wild-card matches (single-elimination matches)
• Oct. 24-Nov. 9: Round 1 (best-of-three series)
• Nov. 22-23: Conference semifinals (single-elimination matches)
• Nov. 29-30: Conference finals (single-elimination matches)
• Dec. 6: MLS Cup (single winner-take-all match)

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