Messi's Inter to open Miami stadium in April against Austin
Lionel Messi's Inter Miami will open its new Miami Freedom Park stadium on April 4 against Austin as part of the 2026 Major League Soccer schedule unveiled on Thursday.
Next year's 510 MLS regular season will kick off on February 21 with each team playing 34 matches before concluding on November 7 and the league will take a break for the World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the United States from May 25 to July 16.
MLS scheduled its return just ahead of the July 19 World Cup final.
There will be 13 MLS Matches on February 21's opening day, the first of them being Charlotte at St. Louis and the day's slate including Messi's Miami visiting Son Heung-min's Los Angeles FC at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
In March, Miami will visit Orlando, DC United, Charlotte and New York City before making a home season debut in Inter's new 25,000-seat stadium.
MLS will conclude its break for the World Cup with four matches on July 16, including Toronto at Montreal, Vancouver at Chicago, Kansas City at St. Louis and Portland at Seattle. The 17th will feature Atlanta at Nashville and LAFC at the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Charlotte will host the MLS All-Star Game on July 29.
After concluding the regular season, MLS will not play during a November FIFA window before the MLS playoffs begin.
K.Han--SG