MLS NEXT Pro

What is MLS NEXT Pro?

MLS NEXT Pro is the professional league that Major League Soccer launched in 2022 as the top of its player-development pathway, sitting between the MLS NEXT academy competition and MLS itself. Its 2026 season — the fifth — has 30 clubs: 27 are the reserve sides of MLS clubs, such as Columbus Crew 2 and New York Red Bulls II, and three are independents, Carolina Core FC, Chattanooga FC and Connecticut United FC, the last new for 2026, with further independents announced for Cleveland, Jacksonville, Grand Rapids and Long Island.^[1] [2]

How does it work?

Clubs play 28 regular-season matches, 14 home and 14 away, from 27 February to Decision Day on 20 September 2026 in a 16-club Eastern and 14-club Western Conference, then a play-in round — new in 2026 — and playoffs to the MLS NEXT Pro Cup. Membership is by MLS affiliation or franchise grant; there is no promotion or relegation. Rosters may hold up to 35 players, 30 professional and 11 amateur or academy slots with no more than five academy players on the field at once, and seven international slots; there is no salary cap.^[2] [5]

How does a player move up?

The MLS Roster Rules define the traffic between an MLS club and its affiliate. A club may sign an affiliate player aged 25 or under to as many as four Short-Term Agreements a season — contracts of up to four days, 16 days in all — under which he can be rostered for up to four MLS matches and appear in two. MLS players may be loaned down to the affiliate, and all such loans must be free. Each club holds priority rights over up to seven affiliate players, and a player who met the Homegrown academy requirements by the year he turned 15 counts as a domestic player when he signs his first professional contract, whether with MLS or with the affiliate.^[6]

Since when does it exist?

MLS announced the league on 21 June 2021 and it kicked off in 2022 with 21 clubs; Columbus Crew 2 won the first MLS NEXT Pro Cup 4–1 over St. Louis City 2. The field has grown from 21 clubs to 30, adding its first independent club, Carolina Core FC, in 2024, and New York Red Bulls II won the 2025 final 3–1 on penalties after a 3–3 draw with Colorado Rapids 2 at Sports Illustrated Stadium.^{[3] [4] [7]}

Every MLS NEXT Pro Cup champion.

Why does it matter?

More than 230 players have signed MLS first-team contracts after playing in MLS NEXT Pro, and the league is where the roster rules of MLS — short-term agreements, loans, affiliate priority, homegrown status — actually operate. For immigration purposes that is the point: MLS NEXT Pro is a professional league whose 27 affiliated clubs are the reserve teams of MLS franchises, tied to them by the league’s own regulations rather than by a separate affiliation agreement.^{[1] [2] [6]}