MLS announces start dates for 2021 season

Major League Soccer announced on Monday that the 2021 season is planned to officially begin on April 3, and team training camps can begin operating on Feb. 22. Playoffs are scheduled for Nov. 19, with the 2021 MLS Cup scheduled for Dec. 11.

The opening weekend of the 2021 MLS season, officially dubbed “MLS is Back - Opening Weekend 2021” according to the league website, comes just days before Atlanta’s first leg Concacaf Champions League matchup between April 6-8.

The MLS All-Star Game, Campeones Cup, and Leagues Cup will also be played “during the late summer window,” according to the MLS release.

That timeline gives new Atlanta United coach Gabriel Heinze roughly six weeks to begin molding Atlanta United into the team he envisions before diving headfirst into a season full of rejuvenated expectations and schedule congestion.

Let’s hope that nothing ends up being rescheduled for pandemic and/or negotiation reasons!