The Major League Soccer is the highest professional football league in the United States. It was founded in 1993 and its first season took place in 1996. The league consists of 20 American teams and 3 Canadian teams. It is similar to the NBA, teams are divided into Eastern and Western teams, no promotion system. MLS has the regular season and the playoffs. The winners of eastern and western teams will compete for the final champion in the playoff.
In recent years, with the development of the MLS and the importance attached to football. The teams in America have invested a lot. This also attracts some players to join. Let us take a look at the top 10 superstars who have joined the MLS.
David Beckham
Beckham joined the Los Angeles Galaxy team of the Major League Soccer in 2007. In the five years playing for the team, Beckham played 118 games, scored 20 goals and won the MLS champion twice. On December 2, 2012, the American Major League Finals was held in Los Angeles. Beckham played on behalf of the Los Angeles Galaxy for the last time. As a result, the team successfully defeated Dynamo Houston by 3-1 and won two consecutive champions of MLS. Beckham finished his American football career in such a perfect way.
Ricardo Kaka
Kaka joined the MLS new army Orlando City after leaving AC Milan for the second time. When he leaving Milan, it was still offseason in America, so he returned to parent club Sao Paulo on loan. At the beginning of the second year, Kaka made his debut MLS. According to some reports, Kaka’s annual salary in the United States will be as high as $716.75 million, which is the highest salary among all the players in MLS. In 2017, after playing 3 years in US, Kaka announced his retirement, finishing his professional career. In these short 3 year career in MLS, Kaka played 78 games for Orlando City and scored 25 goals.
Thierry Henry
On July 14, 2010, Henry joined the New York Red Bulls of MLS. Henry chose his favorite No. 14 jersey. He scored in his Red Bulls’ debut against Tottenham, his North London rival when his was still in the Premier League. Henry stayed in Red Bulls for four years. He played more than 120 games, scored 51 goals and assisted 42 times. Unfortunately, Red Bulls stopped in the first round of the playoffs for several times and Henry has never win a MLS champion.
David Villa
At the age of 33, Villa joined the US MLS team New York FC, a club founded by Manchester City boss Mansour and New York Yankee Club. Villa also re-applied the familiar No. 7 shirt. Since the season of MLS in the United States is from March to September, before starting of the season, Villa joined the Australian Super League team, Melbourne City, another team owned by Mansour. After playing in this club for a short time. Villa returned to New York to prepare for the MLS games. Now, Villa is still playing in New York City and he has scored 76 goals in 119 appearances so far for the team.
Frank Lampard
In 2014, Lampard left Chelsea, the team where he has played for 13 years, to join the New York FC of MLS. The two sides signed a contract for two years and Lampard received a weekly salary of 90,000 pounds. In New York FC, Lampard continued to wear the familiar No. 8 jersey, and together with Villa to fight the MLS champion. In his career in US, Lampard scored 15 goals and gave 4 assists in 31 appearances.
Andrea Pirlo
In the 2015-16 season, Pirlo joined the New York FC and signed a short term contract with the new club for a year. New York City would decide whether to renew his contract for one year or not, depending on its competitive status. Pirlo’s annual salary reached about 4 million euros. Bidding farewell to Serie A, Pirlo, with Frank Lampard and Villa, competed in the MLS for the same club. Pirlo played 16 games for the New York FC for a year and did not score, but had 1 assist. Due to injuries, Pirlo finally chose to retire in advance.
Steven Gerrard
On January 8, 2015, Los Angeles Galaxy Club officially announced that Gerrard would join the team. After bidding farewell to Liverpool, Gerrard went to Los Angeles in July 2015. Gerrard’s contract in Los Angeles Galaxy was for a year and a half, with an annual salary of 4 million pounds. In November 2015, he was selected as the starting lineup of UEFA’s the best team in the century and became the only Englishman in the start XI. On November 24, 2016, Steven Gerrard officially announced his retirement and ended his career.
Didier Drogba
On July 27, 2015, the MLS team Montreal Impact Club announced through the official website that the 37-year-old Drogba joined the team. After successfully defeating many opponents to get Drogba, Montreal Impact’s president, Saputo, couldn’t help to express his joy. “This is the most important day in the history of the club!” Saputo firmly believes that the arrival of Drogba will promote the team’s the development of the team, because “he is the leader, is the champion, is the winner on the field.” (said Saputo, the president of Montreal Impact)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
In March of this year, Manchester United announced the cancellation of the contract with Ibrahimovic, and then Ibrahimovic chose to join the Los Angeles Galaxy. On April 1, 2018, the Los Angeles Galaxy beat the city’s rival Los Angeles FC by 4-3 at home. Ibrahimovic, who just joined the Los Angeles Galaxy, made his debut in this game. He came off the bench in the 70th minute. In the 77th minute, Ibrahimovic scored a phenomenal help the Los Angeles Galaxy equalize the score. In the stoppage time, Ibrahimovic scored a header, which helped the team to secure a win. Just playing for 20 minutes, Ibrahimovic had scored two goals.
Wayne Rooney
On June 28, 2018, the Premier League club, Everton, officially announced that the team reached an agreement on Rooney’s transfer with Washington D.C. football club. Rooney joined D.C. United and the two sides signed a contract for three and a half years. With the transfer to MLS, Rooney’s 16-year Premier League career also ended. On July 29, in the MLS game against the Colorado Rapids, Wayne Rooney scored his MLS goal to help the team win by 2-1.
