City SC will play two home openers in one week in February to start its second season.
City SC already knew it would be starting its season at home with a CONCACAF Champions Cup game with Houston on Tuesday, Feb. 20. In its league schedule released Wednesday, City SC will open its home regular season on Saturday, Feb. 24, against Real Salt Lake. A busy first two weeks of the season will see it go to Houston for the second Champions Cup game on Feb. 27 and then return home to face New York City FC on March 2. Four games in 12 days will be busier than any stretch of games it had last season.
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The team’s schedule also includes a trip to South Florida to face Inter Miami and Lionel Messi on Saturday, June 1, though the date of that game could be moved if either team advances to the final of Champions Cup, which is scheduled for June 2. Both City SC and Inter Miami will take part in that tournament, with Inter Miami getting a first-round bye for having won the Leagues Cup. Copa America, the South American championship that includes Argentina and most likely Messi, doesn’t start until June 20, so if that game is played as scheduled, Messi should be available to play City SC. City SC played Inter Miami in 2023 in the club’s last game before Messi joined the team.
City SC will play each team in the Western Conference twice, except for Sporting Kansas City, which it will face three times: on the road April 20 and July 20 and at CityPark on Sept. 28. In the Eastern Conference, in addition to Inter Miami, City SC will play Chicago again, this time at CityPark on May 11, and FC Cincinnati, this time on the road on May 18, and first-time foes NYCFC, D.C. United and Atlanta at home and New England on the road.
The bulk of City SC’s games, 26 of 34, will be on Saturday, with five Wednesday games and three Sunday games. The two Sunday home games, against Austin on April 14 and the Los Angeles Galaxy on Sept. 1, will be day games. The other home games will start at 7:30 p.m.
City SC doesn’t have more than two games at home or on the road in a row and doesn’t have an MLS match between July 20 and Aug. 24 to make way for the Leagues Cup. The opponents for those games will be named later.
City SC closes its regular season Oct. 19 at Minnesota.
In a league that now revolves around maximizing the asset that Messi is, in the brief time he’ll be here, the MLS season will start on Feb. 21, its earliest start ever, with a standalone Wednesday night game between Inter Miami and Real Salt Lake. The lucky Western Conference teams that will have Inter Miami make a visit this season are the Los Angeles Galaxy, Sporting Kansas City (on April 13, though Inter Miami would have a Champions Cup game April 9-11 if it advances) and Vancouver. Inter Miami will play in Soldier Field in Chicago on Aug. 31.
MLS Cup will be Dec. 7.