Atlanta United’s 2022 MLS season is scheduled to kick off Feb. 26, the league announced Friday.
The season is scheduled to consist of 34 games. The regular season is scheduled to end Oct. 9. The MLS Cup is scheduled to be played Nov. 5. The World Cup is scheduled to start in Qatar on Nov. 21.
The entire schedule will be released before the end of the year, according to the league.
Additionally, because Charlotte is joining in 2022 and will play in the Eastern Conference, Nashville will shift to the Western Conference for at least one season.
The season will consist of 17 home games and 17 away. Each team will play each conference opponent home and away, and eight opponents from the other conference once. The teams in the East will be Atlanta United, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, D.C. United, Miami, Montreal, New England, NYCFC, the New York Red Bulls, Orlando, Philadelphia and Toronto.
Each team is scheduled to play only five mid-week matches, one in May, one in June, one in July and two in August. Atlanta United played 10 mid-week matches this season, including five at home. Atlanta United’s average announced attendance in 12 weekend games played at home this season was 44,568. Its average announced attendance for mid-week games was 42513. More weekend games will give the team more opportunities to open Mercedes-Benz Stadium to full capacity. It typically doesn’t do so for mid-week games.
The midweek matches won’t occur in consecutive weeks. MLS said it will not schedule matches during FIFA windows in March, June or September unless specifically requested by a team.
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