2006 Major League Soccer season

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The 2006 Major League Soccer season was the 11th season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 94th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 28th with a national first-division league.

The MetroStars were bought by Austrian company Red Bull and rebranded as the New York Red Bulls.

Due to owner AEG being unable to secure a soccer specific stadium in San Jose, the Earthquakes ceased operations and had their personnel transferred to the expansion Houston Dynamo.

In June, the Chicago Fire moved into their new soccer-specific stadium, Toyota Park, in Bridgeview, Illinois.

The regular season began on April 1, and concluded on October 15. The 2006 MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 21, and concluded with MLS Cup 2006 on November 12. Houston marked their inaugural season with a league championship by defeating the New England Revolution on penalties in MLS Cup.

Overview

Season format

The season began on April 1 and concluded with MLS Cup on November 12. The 12 teams were split evenly into two conferences. Each team played 32 games that were evenly divided between home and away. Each team played every other team in their conference four times, and every team in the opposite conference twice.

The top four teams from each conference qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs. In the first round, aggregate goals over two matches determined the winners. The conference finals were played as a single match, and the winners advanced to MLS Cup. In all rounds, draws were broken with two 15-minute periods of extra time, followed by penalty kicks if necessary. The away goals rule was not used in any round.

The team with the most points in the regular season was awarded the MLS Supporters' Shield and qualified for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. Additionally, the winner of MLS Cup also qualified for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. If a team qualified for multiple berths into the Champions' Cup, then additional berths were awarded to the highest overall finishing MLS team(s) not already qualified. Qualification for the inaugural SuperLiga was also awarded to the MLS Cup Champion and Supporters' Shield winner, as well two invited teams, FC Dallas and LA Galaxy.

Automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup was awarded to the top three finishers in each conference. The rest of the U.S.-based MLS teams had to qualify for the remaining two berths via a series of play-in games.

Stadiums and locations

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Team	Stadium	Capacity
Chicago Fire	Toyota Park	20,000
Chivas USA	Home Depot Center	27,000
Colorado Rapids	Invesco Field at Mile High	76,125
Columbus Crew	Columbus Crew Stadium	22,555
D.C. United	RFK Stadium	46,000
FC Dallas	Pizza Hut Park	21,193
Houston Dynamo	Robertson Stadium	32,000
Kansas City Wizards	Arrowhead Stadium	81,425
Los Angeles Galaxy	Home Depot Center	27,000
New England Revolution	Gillette Stadium	68,756
New York Red Bulls	Giants Stadium	80,200
Real Salt Lake	Rice-Eccles Stadium	45,017

Personnel and sponsorships

Team	Head coach	Captain	Shirt sponsor
Chicago Fire	Template:Flagicon Dave Sarachan		Honda
Chivas USA	Template:Flagicon Bob Bradley		—
Colorado Rapids	Template:Flagicon Fernando Clavijo		—
Columbus Crew	Template:Flagicon Sigi Schmid	Template:Flagicon Robin Fraser	—
D.C. United	Template:Flagicon Piotr Nowak		Sierra Mist
FC Dallas	Template:Flagicon Colin Clarke		RadioShack
Houston Dynamo	Template:Flagicon Dominic Kinnear	Template:Flagicon Wade Barrett	—
Kansas City Wizards	Template:Flagicon Brian Bliss		U.S. Soccer Foundation
Los Angeles Galaxy	Template:Flagicon Frank Yallop		Budweiser
New England Revolution	Template:Flagicon Steve Nicol		Sierra Mist
New York Red Bulls	Template:Flagicon Bruce Arena	Template:Flagicon Youri Djorkaeff	Red Bull
Real Salt Lake	Template:Flagicon John Ellinger	Template:Flagicon Jason Kreis	—

Coaching changes

Team	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming coach	Date of appointment
Los Angeles Galaxy	Template:Flagicon Steve Sampson	Fired	June 6, 2006	Template:Flagicon Frank Yallop	June 7, 2006
New York Red Bulls	Template:Flagicon Mo Johnston	Fired	June 27, 2006	Template:Flagicon Richie Williams	June 28, 2006
New York Red Bulls	Template:Flagicon Richie Williams	End of interim period	July 18, 2006	Template:Flagicon Bruce Arena	July 18, 2006
Kansas City Wizards	Template:Flagicon Bob Gansler	Resigned	July 19, 2006	Template:Flagicon Brian Bliss	July 19, 2006