2022_MLS_Cup_Playoffs
2022 MLS Cup Playoffs
2022 edition of the MLS Cup playoffs tournament
The 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs (branded as the Audi 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs for sponsorship reasons) was the 27th edition of the MLS Cup Playoffs, the post-season championship of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top soccer league in the United States and Canada. The tournament culminated the 2022 MLS regular season. The tournament began on October 15 and concluded with MLS Cup 2022 on November 5, 16 days before the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.[1]
New York City FC entered the playoffs as the defending MLS champions, but were eliminated in the conference finals by the Philadelphia Union. Los Angeles FC entered as Supporters' Shield winners and won their first MLS Cup, defeating the Philadelphia Union in a penalty shoot-out. The 2022 playoffs marked the first since 2008 where no teams from the Pacific Northwest region (including 2021 finalist Portland Timbers) qualified; Seattle Sounders FC failed to qualify for the first time in their MLS history, snapping a league-record thirteen-year playoff streak.[2] Austin FC and FC Cincinnati reached the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time in 2022.
