Season 2012 Dates 10 Mar 2012 – 1 Dec 2012 Matches played 323 | Champion LA Galaxy Goals scored 854 | |
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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.
Contents
- Changes from 2011
- Personnel and sponsorship
- Player transfers
- Allocation ranking
- Weighted lottery
- Conferences
- Overall table
- Tiebreak rules
- Statistical leaders
- References
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:
Personnel and sponsorship
Five MLS teams saw changes in jersey sponsorship for the 2012 season:
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:
Western Conference
Updated to matches played on October 28, 2012. Source: MLSSoccer.com
Notation Key:
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:
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:
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)