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This article documents a current Major League Soccer season. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses. Initial news reports, scores, or statistics may be unreliable. The last updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. Please feel free to improve this article (but note that updates without valid and reliable references will be removed) or discuss changes on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The 2009 Major League Soccer season is the 14th season of Major League Soccer. The season began on March 19 and will end with MLS Cup 2009, on November 22 at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington.

Changes from the 2008 season

The following changes were made since the 2008 season:

• Seattle Sounders FC began play as an expansion team in the Western Conference.
• Two teams signed shirt sponsorship deals:
  • Xbox 360 Live became the shirt sponsor of Seattle Sounders FC.
  • Amway Global became the shirt sponsor of the San Jose Earthquakes.
• The top two teams from each conference will qualify automatically for the playoffs (down from three). In addition, the next four highest point totals, regardless of conference, will also qualify (up from two).
• Sigi Schmid did not sign a new contract with the Columbus Crew and was hired as head coach of Seattle Sounders FC.
• The Columbus Crew promoted assistant coach Robert Warzycha to head coach.
• After three seasons, the MLS Reserve Division was discontinued. As a result, each team's Developmental Roster spots were reduced from 10 to four, and each team's Senior Roster spots were increased from 18 to 20. This had the effect of reducing each team's total roster from 28 to 24 players.

Competition format

The format for the 2009 season is expected to be as follows:

• The season began on March 19 and will end on November 22 with MLS Cup 2009.
• The 15 teams were split into two conferences. The Western Conference has eight teams with the addition of Seattle Sounders FC, and the Eastern Conference has seven teams. Each team will play a total of 30 games that are evenly divided between home and away games. Each team will play every other team twice, home and away, for a total of 28 games. The remaining two games will be played against two regional rivals, one at home and one away.
• The two teams from each conference with the most points will qualify for the playoffs. In addition, the next four highest point totals, regardless of conference, will also qualify. In the first round of the playoffs, aggregate goals over two matches will determine the winners. The conference finals will be played as a single match, and the winners will advance to MLS Cup 2009. Draws in all rounds will be broken with two 15-minute periods of extra time, followed by penalty kicks if necessary. The away goals rule is not used in any round.
• The team with the most points in the regular season wins the MLS Supporters' Shield and will qualify directly into the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League 2010–11. The MLS Cup winner also qualifies for the Champions League 2010–11 group stage. The MLS Cup runner-up and the winner of the 2009 U.S. Open Cup will qualify for the qualifying stage of the Champions League 2010–11. If a team qualifies for multiple berths into the Champions League, then additional berths will be awarded to the highest overall finishing MLS team(s), based on the regular season standings, not already qualified. Also, Toronto FC, as a Canadian-based team, cannot qualify through MLS for the Champions League, and must instead qualify through the Canadian Championship.
• The four teams with the most points in the regular season, regardless of conference, who have not qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League will qualify for SuperLiga 2010.
• The six teams, regardless of conference, with the most points also qualified for berths into the 2009 U.S. Open Cup. The rest of the U.S.-based MLS teams have to qualify for the remaining two berths via a series of play-in games.

Tiebreakers

1. Head-to-Head (Points-per-match average)
2. Overall Goal Differential
3. Overall Total Goals Scored
4. Tiebreakers 1-3 applied only to matches on the road
5. Tiebreakers 1-3 applied only to matches at home
6. Fewest team disciplinary points in the League Fair Play table
7. Coin toss

NOTE: If more than two clubs are tied, once a club advances through any step, the process reverts to Tiebreaker 1 among the remaining tied clubs.

MLS Tiebreakers

Results table

Standings

The Conference standings are used to determine automatic berths to the MLS Cup Playoffs. The top two teams in each conference receive playoff berths.

The overall standings table determines the four wild card berths to the MLS Cup Playoffs, qualification for the SuperLiga, the CONCACAF Champions League, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, and the winner of the MLS Supporters' Shield.

Conference standings

Overall standings

Statistics

Budweiser Golden Boot

Full article: MLS Golden Boot

Rank	Scorer	Club	GP	G	A
1	Conor Casey	Colorado Rapids	4	4	0
2	Robbie Findley	Real Salt Lake	3	3	2
3	Davy Arnaud	Kansas City Wizards	3	3	1
	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	3	3	1
5	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew	5	3	0
	Luciano Emilio	D.C. United	4	3	0
7	Omar Cummings	Colorado Rapids	4	2	2
	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	3	2	2
	Marco Pappa	Chicago Fire	4	2	2
10	Arturo Alvarez	San Jose Earthquakes	4	2	1

Last Updated April 11, 2009

Goalkeeping leaders

Rank	Goalkeeper	Club	GP	MINS	SHTS	SVS	GA	GAA	W-L-T	SHO
1	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC	4	299	12	11	0	0.00	3-0-0	3
2	Donovan Ricketts	Los Angeles Galaxy	1	90	5	5	0	0.00	0-0-1	1
3	Matt Reis	New England Revolution	1	90	5	4	0	0.00	1-0-0	1
4	Zach Thornton	Chivas USA	4	360	20	17	2	0.50	3-0-1	2
5	Louis Crayton	D.C. United	2	180	13	10	2	1.00	1-1-0	1

Last Updated April 11, 2009

Individual Awards

Player of the Week

Week	Player of the Week	Club	Week's Statline
Week 1	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	2 G (12', 75') GWG, 1 A (25')
Week 2	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC	SHO, 5 SVS
Week 3	Conor Casey	Colorado Rapids	3 G (1', 49', 84') GWG
Week 4	Donovan Ricketts	Los Angeles Galaxy	SHO, 5 SVS

Player of the Month

Month	Player of the Month	Club	Month's Statline
March	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	3 G, 1 A, Sounders 2-0-0 in March

Sierra Mist Goal of the Week

Week	Scorer	Club	Goal
Week 1	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	12'
Week 2	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	77'
Week 3	Sainey Nyassi	New England Revolution	56'
Week 4	Brian McBride	Chicago Fire	57'

Related competitions

International competitions

CONCACAF Champions League 2008–09

The Houston Dynamo continued their CONCACAF Champions League 2008–09 campaign that began during the previous season. They were eliminated in the quarterfinals over two legs by Atlante.

SuperLiga 2009

Chicago Fire, the New England Revolution, Chivas USA, and the Kansas City Wizards will be MLS's entrants in SuperLiga 2009, based on their finish in the 2008 regular season as the top four teams not already qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League.

CONCACAF Champions League 2009–10

The Columbus Crew (MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield winner), the Houston Dynamo (MLS Supporters' Shield Runner-up), Red Bull New York (MLS Cup runner-up), and D.C. United (U.S. Open Cup winner), will be the representatives in the CONCACAF Champions League 2009–10. New York and D.C. will enter at the preliminary round, which will begin the week of July 28. Columbus and Houston will be seeded directly into the Group stage, which will begin the week of August 18.

National competitions

2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

MLS awarded the top six finishers in 2008, regardless of conference, automatic berths into the 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup's third round. The Columbus Crew, the Houston Dynamo, Chicago Fire, the New England Revolution, Chivas USA, and the Kansas City Wizards qualified based on their top-six finish. The rest of MLS's U.S.-based teams will compete for the final two berths into the third round via an eight team qualifying tournament.

Each of the qualified MLS teams are expected to be matched up against the winner of a second round game, all of whom will come from either one of the USL's three divisions or the USASA, in the Third Round.

2009 Canadian Championship

Canada's top three teams, MLS's Toronto FC and USL-1's Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps FC will compete in the 2009 Canadian Championship. The tournament will be played as a double round robin group from May 6 to June 18.

All-Star game

MLS All-Star 2009

MLS All-Star 2009 is scheduled to be held at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, home of Real Salt Lake. The opponent has yet to be announced.

See also

• List of transfers for the 2009 Major League Soccer season
• 2008 MLS Expansion Draft

References

1. "MLS Opener Set for March 19 on ESPN2". SounderFC.com. Renton, Washington: Major League Soccer.
2. "Red Bulls return New York to CONCACAF club championship". CONCACAF. 24 November 2008.

External links

• Official Site of Major League Soccer

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• 2009 in football (soccer)
• 2009 domestic football (soccer) leagues
• Major League Soccer seasons