| Season: | 1996 |
| Mlscup: | D.C. United (1st title) |
| Shield: | Tampa Bay Mutiny (1st shield) |
| League Topscorer: | Roy Lassiter (27 goals) |
| Continentalcup1: | CONCACAF Champions' Cup |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | D.C. United Los Angeles Galaxy |
| Matches: | 160 |
| Total Goals: | 539 |
| Longest Wins: | Los Angeles Galaxy Games: 12 (04/13 – 06/30) |
| Longest Losses: | Columbus Crew Games: 6 (05/15 – 06/22) |
| Attendance: | 2,785,001 |
| Average Attendance: | 17,406 |
| Highest Attendance: | 92,216 LA 2–2 TB (June 16, 1996) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 6,013 COL 4–2 KC (August 7, 1996) |
| Nextseason: | 1997 |
The 1996 Major League Soccer season was the inaugural season of Major League Soccer. It was the 84th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 18th with a national first-division league.
Major League Soccer had originally intended to begin competitive action in 1995. Various difficulties forced the league to postpone its first season until 1996. In preparation for its first season, the league began signing what it called marquee players, [1] beginning with Tab Ramos on January 3, 1995.[2] Beginning in October 1995, the league apportioned the marquee players in the MLS Inaugural Allocations.[3] Each team received two national team and two foreign players in the allocation.[4] The league then invited about 250 players to a tryout the second week of January 1996 on the campus of UC Irvine.[5] On February 6 and 7, 1996, the league held its 1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft in which the ten teams selected 160 players over sixteen rounds. The Columbus Crew selected Brian McBride with the first pick of the draft. On March 4, 1996, the league then held the 1996 MLS College Draft followed by the 1996 MLS Supplemental Draft later that day. Despite the numerous drafts, the teams were not obligated to sign only players from the drafts.[6]
The preseason began the first week of March. The teams reduced their rosters to twenty-two players by March 25 and had to make a final roster reduction to eighteen by April 15.[7] The teams had a $1,200,000 salary cap with no player allowed to receive more than $192,500. In order to promote American players, teams were limited to five foreigners on the roster.[8]
Each of the 10 MLS teams played 32 games. A regulation win was worth three points, a shootout win one point, and zero points for a loss in any manner. Fear of alienating fans with tied games had led the league to adopting the shootout when games ended even. The league also adopted a countdown clock instead of running clock, unlike IFAB's standards. The league also divided the teams equally into two conferences – Eastern and Western.
The league began its first season on Saturday, April 6, 1996, when the San Jose Clash hosted D.C. United at Spartan Stadium. ESPN carried the game live which the Clash won on a goal by Eric Wynalda. That goal was selected as the Goal of the Year. The regular season ended on September 22. The playoffs began two days later.
See main article: List of Major League Soccer stadiums.
| Team | Stadium | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado Rapids | Mile High Stadium | 76,273 | |
| Columbus Crew | Ohio Stadium | 102,329 | |
| D.C. United | RFK Stadium | 46,000 | |
| Dallas Burn | Cotton Bowl | 92,100 | |
| Kansas City Wiz | Arrowhead Stadium | 81,425 | |
| Los Angeles Galaxy | Rose Bowl | 92,542 | |
| New England Revolution | Foxboro Stadium | 60,292 | |
| NY/NJ MetroStars | Giants Stadium | 80,200 | |
| San Jose Clash | Spartan Stadium | 30,456 | |
| Tampa Bay Mutiny | Houlihan's Stadium | 74,301 |
| Team | Outgoing coach | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Incoming coach | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NY/NJ MetroStars |  Eddie Firmani | Fired | May 24, 1996 | Carlos Queiroz | May 30, 1996 |
| Columbus Crew |  Timo Liekoski | Resigned | August 2, 1996 |  Tom Fitzgerald | August 2, 1996 |
| Colorado Rapids | Bob Houghton | Fired | September 10, 1996 | Roy Wegerle | September 13, 1996 |
Eastern Conference
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Western Conference
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Eastern Conference
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Western Conference
See main article: MLS Cup 1996.
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roy Lassiter | Tampa Bay Mutiny | 27 |
| 2 |  Raúl Díaz Arce | D.C. United | 23 |
| 3 |  Eduardo Hurtado | Los Angeles Galaxy | 21 |
| 4 | Preki | Kansas City Wiz | 18 |
| 5 | Brian McBride | Columbus Crew | 17 |
| 6 | Steve Rammel | D.C. United | 14 |
| 7 | Paul Bravo | San Jose Clash | 13 |
| Jason Kreis | Dallas Burn | ||
 Giovanni Savarese | NY/NJ MetroStars | ||
 Vitalis Takawira | Kansas City Wiz | ||
See main article: List of Major League Soccer hat-tricks.
| Player | Club | Against | Result | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–2 | |||||
| 3–0 | |||||
| 4–0 | |||||
| 3–1 | |||||
| Raúl Díaz Arce4 | 6–1 | ||||
| 3–4 | |||||
| 3–1 | |||||
| 5–1 |
| Rank | Player | Club | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Marco Etcheverry | D.C. United | 16 |
| 2 | Eric Wynalda | San Jose Clash | 11 |
 Carlos Valderrama | Tampa Bay Mutiny | ||
| 4 | Mauricio Cienfuegos | Los Angeles Galaxy | 10 |
| 5 | Preki | Kansas City Wiz | 9 |
| Mark Chung | Kansas City Wiz | ||
| Tab Ramos | NY/NJ Metrostars | ||
| 8 | Adrián Paz | Columbus Crew | 8 |
| Roberto Donadoni | NY/NJ MetroStars | ||
| John Harkes | D.C. United | ||
| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tony Meola | NY/NJ Metrostars | 9 |
| 2 | Mark Dodd | Dallas Burn | 6 |
| 3 |  Jorge Campos | Los Angeles Galaxy | 4 |
| Brad Friedel | Columbus Crew | ||
| Aidan Heaney | New England Revolution | ||
| Tom Liner | San Jose Clash | ||
| Dave Salzwedel | San Jose Clash | ||
| 8 | Mark Dougherty | Tampa Bay Mutiny | 3 |
| Garth Lagerway | Kansas City Wiz | ||
| Mark Simpson | D.C. United | ||
| Award | Player | Club | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most Valuable Player | Carlos Valderrama | Tampa Bay Mutiny | |
| Defender of the Year | John Doyle | San Jose Clash | |
| Goalkeeper of the Year | Mark Dodd | Dallas Burn | |
| Coach of the Year | Thomas Rongen | Tampa Bay Mutiny | |
| Rookie of the Year | Steve Ralston | Tampa Bay Mutiny | |
| Scoring Champion | Roy Lassiter | Tampa Bay Mutiny | |
| Goal of the Year | Eric Wynalda | San Jose Clash |
| Month | Player | Club | Stats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April | Mauricio Cienfuegos | Los Angeles Galaxy | 2G | |
| May | Carlos Valderrama | Tampa Bay Mutiny | 2G, 4A | |
| June | Eduardo Hurtado | Los Angeles Galaxy | 7G, 1A | |
| July | Jason Kreis | Dallas Burn | 5G | |
| August | Marco Etcheverry | D.C. United | 1G, 8A | |
| September | Brad Friedel | Columbus Crew | 2GA |
| Player of the Week | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Week | Player | Club | |
| Week 1 | Eric Wynalda | San Jose Clash | |
| Week 2 | Brian McBride | Columbus Crew | |
| Week 3 | Marcelo Balboa | Colorado Rapids | |
| Week 4 | Bo Oshoniyi | Columbus Crew | |
| Week 5 | Giovanni Savarese | NY/NJ MetroStars | |
| Week 6 | Brian McBride | Columbus Crew | |
| Week 7 | Jorge Campos | Los Angeles Galaxy | |
| Week 8 | Preki | Kansas City Wiz | |
| Week 9 | John Doyle | San Jose Clash | |
| Week 10 | Eduardo Hurtado | Los Angeles Galaxy | |
| Week 11 | Mark Dodd | Dallas Burn | |
| Week 12 | Mark Chung | Kansas City Wiz | |
| Week 13 | Tony Meola | NY/NJ MetroStars | |
| Week 14 | Raúl Díaz Arce | D.C. United | |
| Week 15 | Paul Bravo | San Jose Clash | |
| Week 16 | Cobi Jones | Los Angeles Galaxy | |
| Week 17 | Joe-Max Moore | New England Revolution | |
| Week 18 | Tony Meola | NY/NJ MetroStars | |
| Week 19 | Adrián Paz | Columbus Crew | |
| Week 20 | Marco Etcheverry | D.C. United | |
| Week 21 | Brad Friedel | Columbus Crew | |
| Week 22 | Brian Maisonneuve | Columbus Crew | |
| Week 23 | Frank Yallop | Tampa Bay Mutiny | |
| Week 24 | Brad Friedel | Columbus Crew | |
See main article: Major League Soccer attendance.
| width=25 | Rank | width=150 | Team | width=45 | width=45 | width=45 | width=45 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | 92,216 | 8,561 | |||||||||
| 2 | 16 | 53,250 | 14,007 | |||||||||
| 3 | 16 | 38,633 | 11,009 | |||||||||
| 4 | 16 | 31,550 | 12,832 | |||||||||
| 5 | 16 | 31,728 | 10,894 | |||||||||
| 6 | 16 | 35,250 | 7,338 | |||||||||
| 7 | 16 | 35,032 | 7,360 | |||||||||
| 8 | 16 | 21,141 | 8,062 | |||||||||
| 9 | 16 | 26,473 | 6,281 | |||||||||
| 10 | 16 | 21,711 | 6,013 | |||||||||
| Total | 160 | 2,785,001 | 92,216 | 6,013 | ||||||||