| Supporters' Shield | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Regular season champion |
| Presented by | Major League Soccer |
| First awarded | 1999 |
| Currently held by | Los Angeles Galaxy (4th title) |
The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. Akin to the Australasian A-League's premiership, and similar to the President's Trophy of the NHL, the Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 1999, and has been recognized as a major trophy by the league. Since 2006, the Supporters' Shield winner has earned a berth in the CONCACAF Champions League.
With four regular season titles each, D.C. United and the Los Angeles Galaxy have won the most Supporters' Shields of any MLS team. The Galaxy are the defending 2011 Supporters' Shield winners.[1]
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When Major League Soccer had its inaugural season in 1996, the league resembled its contemporary North American leagues. Subsequent to the regular season, the campaign culminated with the MLS Cup Playoffs, en route to the league's championship match, the MLS Cup. The club with the best regular season record received nothing more than the top seed in the playoffs.
Though the original creator of the Shield is unknown, it has been reported that it was a Tampa Bay Mutiny fan, possibly in result to the Mutiny earning the best regular season record, but failing to win the 1996 MLS Cup final. Originally, the idea was to call the award the "Scudetto", an allude to the champions of the Italian Serie A, but it was met with little praise. Consequently, nothing in terms of an award materialized.
The following year, another group led by a soccer enthusiast Sam Pierron tried to revive the idea by giving an award to the regular season champions. Since MLS refused to fund the idea, Pierron began fundraising to purchase a trophy with the help of supporters from various MLS clubs to purchase a trophy. Fundraising was boosted with the assistance of ESPN's MLS commentator (at the time) Phil Schoen donating for the award. In the end, nearly $3,000 was donated to purchase a trophy, which ended up costing $2,200.[2]
The money donated to create and purchase the trophy was not fulfilled until the tail end of the 1999 season, when the second MLS Supporters' Summit was held. At the summit, the Los Angeles Galaxy were awarded with the first ever Shield. Also engraved on the Shield were the previous winners of the award from 1996 through 1998.
Since the 2000 season, the system of awarding points in the MLS is the same as the international standard, three points for a win, one for a draw, and no points for a loss. In the event of an end-of-season tie in total accumulated points, the win-loss record of head-to-head matchups between the tied teams is used as the first tiebreaker, goal difference as the second, and the total number of goals scored as the third.
Should these measures fail to resolve the tie, the fourth breaker takes the previous methods and applies them only to away games, the fifth does the same for games played at home, the sixth awards the title to the team with the fewest disciplinary points, and, failing that, the seventh and final tiebreaker is a coin toss. These are standard MLS regulations for breaking ties in point totals.[3]
Throughout the early to mid-2000's, the Shield received little praise or recognition from MLS or the general public, as the league awarded the MLS Cup winner and runner-up with spots in continental tournaments.
In February 2006, USSF decided that the Supporters' Shield winner and the MLS Cup winner would represent the United States in the CONCACAF Champions League, formerly the CONCACAF Champions' Cup.[4] If the Supporters Shield winner also wins the MLS Cup, the team with the second highest regular season point total qualifies as well.[5]
When the Champions Cup became the CONCACAF Champions League, the United States Soccer Federation gave the Supporters' Shield winner and the MLS Cup winner both direct Group Stage spots into the tournament.
On five occasions (1997, 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2008) the winner of the Supporters' Shield has also gone on to win the MLS Cup that same year.
In 2011, the league announced that the Shield winner's opponent in the MLS Cup quarterfinals would be the lowest-seeded team remaining.
In February 2011, Major League Soccer announced that any of their teams that participate in the CONCACAF Champions League would receive an undisclosed amount of additional allocation money, mainly to add squad depth to their rosters. Indirectly, since the Shield winner earns a CCL berth, this marked the first time in league history that the Supporters' Shield winner would receive some type of financial incentive for winning the regular season title.
| Year | Winner | Record | Points[B] | Playoff Result | Win # | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T[A] | |||||
| 1996 | Tampa Bay Mutiny | 20 | 12 | — | 58 | Lost Conference Final (DC) | 1 |
| 1997 | D.C. United | 21 | 11 | — | 55 | Won MLS Cup* | 1 |
| 1998 | Los Angeles Galaxy | 24 | 8 | — | 68 | Lost Conference Final (CHI) | 1 |
| 1999 | D.C. United | 23 | 9 | — | 57 | Won MLS Cup* | 2 |
| 2000 | Kansas City Wizards | 16 | 7 | 9 | 57 | Won MLS Cup* | 1 |
| 2001 | Miami Fusion | 16 | 5 | 5 | 53 | Lost Semifinal (SJ) | 1 |
| 2002 | Los Angeles Galaxy | 16 | 9 | 3 | 51 | Won MLS Cup* | 2 |
| 2003 | Chicago Fire | 15 | 7 | 8 | 53 | Lost MLS Cup (SJ)^ | 1 |
| 2004 | Columbus Crew | 12 | 5 | 13 | 49 | Lost Conference Semifinals (NE)# | 1 |
| 2005 | San Jose Earthquakes | 18 | 4 | 10 | 64 | Lost Conference Semifinals (LA)# | 1 |
| 2006 | D.C. United | 15 | 7 | 10 | 55 | Lost Conference Final (NE) | 3 |
| 2007 | D.C. United | 16 | 7 | 7 | 55 | Lost Conference Semifinals (CHI)# | 4 |
| 2008 | Columbus Crew | 17 | 7 | 6 | 57 | Won MLS Cup* | 2 |
| 2009 | Columbus Crew | 13 | 7 | 10 | 49 | Lost Conference Semifinals (RSL)# | 3 |
| 2010 | Los Angeles Galaxy | 18 | 7 | 5 | 59 | Lost Conference Final (FCD) | 3 |
| 2011 | Los Angeles Galaxy | 19 | 5 | 10 | 67 | Won MLS Cup* | 4 |
| Total wins | Team |
|---|---|
| 4 | Los Angeles Galaxy |
| D.C. United | |
| 3 | |
| Columbus Crew | |
| 1 | |
| Tampa Bay Mutiny | |
| Kansas City Wizards | |
| Miami Fusion | |
| Chicago Fire | |
| San Jose Earthquakes |
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place |
| Season | Premier | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Did not qualify | ||
| 1998 | |||
| 1999 | Los Angeles Galaxy | QR1 | |
| 2000 | D.C. United | SF | |
| 2002 | Kansas City Wizards | SF | |
| 2003 | Los Angeles Galaxy | QF | |
| 2004 | Did not qualify | ||
| 2005 | |||
| 2006 | |||
| 2007 | D.C. United | SF | |
| 2008 | D.C. United | SF | |
| 2008–09 | D.C. United | GS | |
| 2009–10 | Columbus Crew | QF | |
| 2010–11 | Columbus Crew | QF | |
| 2011–12 | Los Angeles Galaxy | In progress | |
| 2012–13 | Los Angeles Galaxy | TBD | |
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