2012 Major League Soccer season

Updated on Dec 03, 2023

Edit

Comment

Season 2012 Dates 10 Mar 2012 – 1 Dec 2012 Matches played 323		Champion LA Galaxy Goals scored 854

MLS Cup Los Angeles Galaxy (4th title) Supporters' Shield San Jose Earthquakes (2nd shield) Champions League (U.S.) San Jose Earthquakes Los Angeles Galaxy Houston Dynamo Sporting Kansas City (via U.S. Open Cup) Champions League (Canada) Toronto FC (via Canadian Championship) Top goalscorer Chris Wondolowski (27 goals) Similar 2008 Major League Soccer se, 2015 Major League Soccer se, 2014 Major League Soccer se, 1996 Major League Soccer se, 2012–13 CONCACAF Champio

The 2012 Major League Soccer season was the 100th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States and Canada, the 34th with a national first-division league, and the 17th season of Major League Soccer.

The regular season began on March 10, when the Vancouver Whitecaps FC defeated the expansion team Montreal Impact 2–0 at BC Place, and concluded with the host Los Angeles Galaxy defeating the Seattle Sounders FC 1–0 on October 28 at The Home Depot Center. The season also featured the 2012 MLS All-Star Game on July 28, when MLS All-Stars defeated the Chelsea 3–2 at PPL Park (hosted by the Philadelphia Union). The San Jose Earthquakes would go on to become the Supporters' Shield champions by earning the most points of any team throughout the regular season. The 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs ran from October 31 until December 1, when the Los Angeles Galaxy claimed their fourth MLS Cup title by defeating Houston Dynamo 3–1 in MLS Cup 2012 at Home Depot Center in Carson, CA.

Changes from 2011

The 2012 MLS season features several significant on- and off-field changes from 2011:

The Montreal Impact became the 19th MLS franchise, replacing a same-named Montreal club that previously played in the North American Soccer League in 2011 and in the USL First Division before that. The Impact made their on-field debut on March 10 in a 2–0 loss at Vancouver. The Impact's home debut, a 1–1 draw with the Chicago Fire on March 17, attracted 58,912 to Olympic Stadium, setting the all-time record crowd for professional soccer in Montreal. A 1–1 draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy on May 12 attracted 60,860, setting the all-time attendance record for professional soccer in Canada.

The Impact joined MLS as the 10th team in the Eastern Conference; the Western Conference remains at 9 teams.

Each of the 19 teams plays a 34-game regular season schedule, one that employs a new unbalanced format that gives greater emphasis on in-conference matchups.

Western Conference clubs will play each conference rival three times, and play once against each Eastern Conference club.

Eastern Conference clubs will play seven of their conference rivals three times, the remaining two conference rivals twice, and each Western Conference club once.

The span of the regular season will be the longest in MLS history, beginning with 5 matches on March 10 and ending with 3 matches on October 28.

A change to the Designated Player Rule regarding international players took effect with the start of the 2012 season. The salary cap charge for international designated players (i.e., players not from the U.S. or Canada) will depend on the players' ages:

age 20 and younger: $150,000

ages 21 to 23: $200,000

over 23 years of age: $350,000

The league gained a new U.S. TV partner in NBC Sports, whose 3-year deal was announced in August 2011 (replacing expired deals with Fox Soccer and Fox Deportes) and began on March 11 with a NBC Sports Network broadcast of the New York Red Bulls/FC Dallas match. As part of the deal, NBC Sports Network will air 38 regular season and 3 playoff matches, while the main NBC network will air 3 regular season and 2 playoff matches (the first time since 2002 that that many MLS games will be broadcast on English-language network television). NBC and NBCSN will also air United States men's national soccer team matches (2 on each network). Previous deals with U.S. partners ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, and Galavisión continue in 2012, as do deals with Canadian partners TSN, TSN2, and GolTV.

The MLS Cup Playoffs setup will undergo several changes, as will the Championship Game, which will be played on its latest date ever, December 1. (see MLS Cup below)

Personnel and sponsorship

Five MLS teams saw changes in jersey sponsorship for the 2012 season:

Bank of Montreal became the first shirt sponsor for the Montreal Impact.

The Chicago Fire, who went without a jersey sponsor in 2011, gained one in Quaker Oats Company.

The Columbus Crew, who also did not have a 2011 jersey sponsor, gained sponsorship from Barbasol.

Amway Global declined to renew its sponsorship of the San Jose Earthquakes, which has yet to find a replacement.

On June 27, it was announced that AdvoCare had reached an agreement with FC Dallas to become the first shirt sponsor in club history.

Note: All teams use Adidas as kit manufacturer.

Player transfers

Major League Soccer employs no fewer than 12 methods to acquire players. These include: signing players on transfers/free transfers as is done in most of the world; via trades; drafting players through mechanisms such as the MLS SuperDraft, MLS Supplemental Draft, or MLS Re-Entry Draft; rarely used methods which cover extreme hardship and injury replacement; signing players as Designated Players or Homegrown Players; placing a discovery claim on players; waivers; and methods peculiar to MLS such as through allocation or a weighted lottery.

Allocation ranking

The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the League after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. The allocation rankings may also be used in the event two or more clubs file a request for the same player on the same day. The allocations will be ranked in reverse order of finish for the 2011 season, taking playoff performance into account.

Once the club uses its allocation ranking to acquire a player, it drops to the bottom of the list. A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club’s ranking. At all times, each club is assigned one ranking. The rankings reset at the end of each MLS League season.

Montreal immediately traded Johnson to Seattle in exchange for Mike Fucito and Lamar Neagle.

Vancouver originally had the No. 2 ranking, but traded it to Philadelphia on June 26.

∞Toronto originally had the No. 4 ranking, but traded it to Seattle on September 14.

The remaining order after FC Dallas is: Vancouver Whitecaps FC (from Philadelphia), Toronto FC (from Seattle), Sporting Kansas City, Real Salt Lake, Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy. In the unlikely event that all clubs use an allocation, the order begins anew with Montreal Impact, Colorado Rapids, Philadelphia Union, New York Red Bulls New England Revolution and Seattle Sounders FC.

Weighted lottery

Some players are assigned to MLS teams via a weighted lottery process. A team can only acquire one player per year through a weighted lottery. The players made available through lotteries include: (i) Generation adidas players signed after the MLS SuperDraft; and (ii) Draft eligible players to whom an MLS contract was offered but who failed to sign with the League prior to the SuperDraft.

The team with the worst record over its last 30 regular season games (dating back to previous season if necessary and taking playoff performance into account) will have the greatest probability of winning the lottery. Teams are not required to participate in a lottery. Players are assigned via the lottery system in order to prevent a player from potentially influencing his destination club with a strategic holdout.

The results of 2012 weighted lotteries thus far:

Conferences

Eastern Conference

Updated to matches played on 18:04 EDT October 28, 2012. Source: MLSSoccer.com
Notation Key:

(E1) = Eastern Conference champion

Western Conference

Updated to matches played on October 28, 2012. Source: MLSSoccer.com
Notation Key:

(SS) = Supporters Shield winner (W1) = Western Conference champion

Overall table

Note: the table below has no impact on playoff qualification and is used solely for determining host of the MLS Cup, certain CCL spots, seeding in the 2013 Canadian Championship, and 2013 MLS draft. The conference tables are the sole determinant for teams qualifying for the playoffs.

Updated to matches played on October 28, 2012. Source: MLSSoccer.com
Notation Key:

(SS) = Supporters Shield winner

¹The highest ranked U.S.-based MLS club qualifies to the 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League (placed in Pot A). The other U.S. representatives in the 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League are:

Winner of the 2012 MLS Cup (Pot A)

Runner-up of the 2012 MLS Cup (Pot B)

Winner of the 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (Pot B)

²Toronto FC qualified for the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League as winners of the 2012 Canadian Championship.

Tiebreak rules

When two or more teams are tied in standings on points the following tiebreak rules apply:

Goals for
Goal differential
Fewest disciplinary points in the official points table (foul - 1 pt, first yellow - 3 pts, second yellow - 5 pts, straight red - 6 pts, disciplinary commission suspension - 6 pts, etc.)
Road goals
Road goal differential
Coin toss (2 teams) or drawing of lots (3 or more teams)