MLS Cup Winners by Year: Complete Champions List

Inter Miami CF is the current MLS Cup champion. Miami beat Vancouver Whitecaps FC 3-1 on December 6, 2025, lifting the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy for the first time in club history. That result is the final completed entry in this list. MLS Cup 2026 has not been played as of August 28, so any page naming a 2026 winner now is either making a prediction or confusing the current standings with the championship.

This guide records every final from the league's inaugural 1996 season through 2025. The table treats a penalty shootout correctly: the match score remains level after extra time, while the shootout score identifies the winner. It also groups renamed clubs under their current identities when discussing totals. Kansas City Wizards titles therefore belong to Sporting Kansas City's history, and Columbus Crew SC results belong to Columbus Crew.

Who won the most recent MLS Cup?

Inter Miami's first championship came in the club's sixth MLS season. An Édier Ocampo own goal put Miami ahead after eight minutes, Ali Ahmed equalized for Vancouver in the 60th, and Rodrigo De Paul restored the lead in the 71st. Tadeo Allende finished the scoring in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time. Lionel Messi assisted the two Miami goals after halftime and was named MLS Cup MVP.

That answer should not be shortened to “Miami won the league table.” MLS uses a playoff championship model. The Supporters' Shield recognizes the best regular-season record, while MLS Cup goes to the team that advances through the postseason and wins the final. A club can win both in the same year, but one trophy does not automatically carry the other.

• Current holder: Inter Miami CF
• 2025 final: Inter Miami 3-1 Vancouver Whitecaps FC
• Venue: Chase Stadium, Fort Lauderdale
• Final MVP: Lionel Messi
• Club milestone: Miami's first MLS Cup

For the live postseason route rather than historical results, use the MLS playoffs page. The rest of this article answers the historical question with the champion, runner-up and score for every completed season.

Complete MLS Cup winners list, 1996-2025

The winner appears first in every row. A level score followed by “pens” means the match remained tied through extra time and the named champion won the shootout. “A.e.t.” means the winning goal came in extra time. These details matter because writing a shootout result as an ordinary 5-4 or 7-6 win misrepresents what happened during the match.

The table contains several naming changes but no franchise-merger assumptions. “Kansas City Wizards” is the name Sporting Kansas City used when it won in 2000 and lost in 2004; that history remains with the same club. “Los Angeles Galaxy” is shortened to the current “LA Galaxy.” The list does not transfer Houston's 2006 and 2007 trophies to San Jose even though the Dynamo's launch followed the relocation of San Jose's players and staff; MLS recognizes the Earthquakes and Dynamo as separate club histories.

Thirty seasons produced 16 different champions. That spread is an immediate lesson from the list: MLS has dynasties, but it has never been a competition where only two or three clubs own the final across generations.

How Inter Miami won the 2025 title

The 2025 final is useful context because the 3-1 score can look more comfortable than the match felt. Miami led early when Tadeo Allende's cross deflected off Vancouver defender Édier Ocampo for an own goal in the eighth minute. The Whitecaps stayed within one attack and equalized in the 60th, when Ali Ahmed beat goalkeeper Rocco Ríos Novo at the near post. At 1-1, the newest final on this list was still open.

Miami's stars decided it. Lionel Messi recovered possession and released Rodrigo De Paul for the 71st-minute winner. In the sixth minute of stoppage time, Messi played Allende through for the clinching goal. Those two assists helped make Messi the clear MLS Cup MVP, while Allende's final strike raised his playoff total to nine, an MLS single-postseason record.

The championship completed a progression rather than appearing from nowhere. Miami had won Leagues Cup in 2023 and the Supporters' Shield in 2024, but the MLS Cup remained missing. The 2025 run finally connected high-end regular-season attack with postseason execution. MLS reported 101 goals across Miami's regular season and playoffs, the highest combined total in league history at the time.

There was also a meaningful first on the losing side. Vancouver reached its first MLS Cup, so the final guaranteed a new champion before kickoff. The Whitecaps had already beaten Miami 5-1 on aggregate in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals, proof that the final was not a ceremonial coronation. Miami reversed that earlier matchup when the domestic title was at stake.

The result made Inter Miami the 16th club to win MLS Cup and the eighth different champion in ten seasons. That recent spread helps explain why “Who won MLS in 2025?” is a different question from “Which club is historically dominant?” Miami owns the latest trophy; LA Galaxy still owns the all-time team record.

Because Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba closed the campaign as champions, the final naturally attracted global attention. The historically durable point is simpler: Miami won three postseason elimination rounds, then beat the Western Conference champion by two goals. Celebrity explains the audience, but the bracket and final explain the title.

Clubs with the most MLS Cup titles

LA Galaxy leads the all-time list with six MLS Cups in ten final appearances. The 2024 victory over New York Red Bulls extended a record the Galaxy already held and ended a ten-year gap since their 2014 title. That range is what makes the record distinctive: LA won in 2002 and 2005, dominated again with titles in 2011, 2012 and 2014, then returned with a different generation in 2024.

D.C. United's four titles came in a more concentrated burst. United won three of the first four finals, establishing the league's first dynasty, and added a fourth in 2004. Columbus sits alone in third with three titles spread across 2008, 2020 and 2023. The Crew's gaps are not a continuous dynasty, but they show an organization capable of rebuilding championship teams in different eras.

Four clubs have won twice: Seattle Sounders FC, Houston Dynamo, Sporting Kansas City and San Jose Earthquakes. Houston is one of only three clubs to repeat in consecutive seasons, joining early D.C. and the 2011-12 Galaxy. Nine more clubs have one title: Chicago Fire, Real Salt Lake, Colorado Rapids, Portland Timbers, Toronto FC, Atlanta United, New York City FC, LAFC and Inter Miami.

Final appearances reveal a different kind of history. New England Revolution reached the championship match five times and lost all five, including three consecutive defeats from 2005 through 2007. That is the most painful record in this table, but it also represents five conference-winning playoff runs. Toronto and Seattle met in three finals across four seasons, splitting the titles two to one in Seattle's favor.

For a broader ranking that also counts Shields and other major honors, see the most successful MLS teams. Cup totals alone answer the championship question; they do not measure every form of sustained excellence.

The finals that changed MLS Cup history

1996: the comeback that launched D.C. United

The first MLS Cup established that the final could produce a defining comeback. LA Galaxy led D.C. United 2-0 after 56 minutes in the rain at Foxboro Stadium. Tony Sanneh and Shawn Medved pulled D.C. level, then Eddie Pope scored in extra time for a 3-2 win. D.C. did not simply become the first champion; it began a run of three titles in four seasons.

2006-07: Houston repeats immediately

Houston Dynamo won its first championship season on penalties after a 1-1 draw with New England, then beat the Revolution 2-1 one year later. The repeat gave a new club instant championship identity and deepened New England's extraordinary run of final heartbreak. No club would repeat again until LA Galaxy in 2011 and 2012.

2016-19: Seattle and Toronto define a rivalry era

Seattle and Toronto met in the final three times in four seasons. The 2016 match ended 0-0, with Seattle winning the shootout despite failing to record a shot on target during open play. Toronto answered with a 2-0 victory in 2017, completing a season that also included the Supporters' Shield and Canadian Championship. Seattle won the rubber match 3-1 at home in 2019.

2022: the modern classic

LAFC's first title came through the most dramatic scoreline on the list. Philadelphia took a 3-2 lead in the fourth minute of stoppage time at the end of extra time, seemingly ending the final. Gareth Bale equalized in the 128th minute, the latest goal in MLS Cup history at that point. Substitute goalkeeper John McCarthy then helped LAFC win the shootout 3-0 after the match finished 3-3.

The final also completed an MLS Cup-Supporters' Shield double for LAFC. The Union finished level with LAFC on 67 regular-season points but lost the Shield on the wins tiebreaker, then lost the Cup on penalties after a draw. Few seasons illustrate the narrow margins between excellent and champion more clearly.

2024-25: an old record and a new champion

The last two completed finals pull history in opposite directions. LA Galaxy's 2024 win extended the oldest club dynasty record to six titles. Inter Miami's 2025 win added a 16th champion to the list. MLS Cup history can reward institutional continuity one year and a first-time finalist the next, which is why current form and historical stature should never be treated as the same measure.

MLS Cup vs Supporters' Shield and the open 2026 race

The easiest way to read MLS history is to keep three labels separate. The conference tables organize regular-season playoff qualification and seeding. The Supporters' Shield goes to the club with the best regular-season record across both conferences. MLS Cup goes to the team that wins the postseason final. Only the last of those belongs in a list of MLS champions by year.

That distinction explains apparent contradictions in search results. A club can finish first in the league-wide table and fail to win MLS Cup, as Inter Miami did after its record-setting 2024 regular season. A lower seed can peak during the playoffs and become champion. Conversely, a Cup winner was not necessarily the season's most consistent team over 34 matches.

Readers researching final standings rather than champions should use our MLS standings history. For the current season, the live MLS standings show the Shield and playoff races. Those pages complement this one without changing the historical winner column.

Who won MLS Cup 2026?

No one has won it yet as of August 28, 2026. The regular season is scheduled to finish on November 7, and MLS Cup is scheduled for December 18 after the playoffs. Nashville's current Shield lead does not make Nashville the 2026 MLS Cup champion, just as a midseason power ranking cannot settle the final.

This article should receive its next factual update only after the championship match is complete. At that point, the correct process is to add one row with the champion, finalist and normalized result; update the current-holder answer; recalculate club title totals; and verify every downstream claim about repeat winners or the number of distinct champions. Adding a speculative 2026 row before then would break the list's central promise.

The durable answer through the latest completed season is therefore concise: Inter Miami won in 2025, LA Galaxy owns the all-time record with six, and 16 clubs have lifted MLS Cup across 30 seasons. Everything after that remains part of the live 2026 race.