Alexis Sánchez arrives in MLS after 18 years in Europe. CF Montreal adds the experience of a player like Alexis Sánchez who won 17 titles in Europe. 11 Aug 2026, 21:57 PM EDT Alexis Sánchez's European career has come to an end. The Chilean forward was announced this Tuesday as a new player for CF Montréal, the club with which he will play the remainder of the 2026 season and the 2027 campaign of Major League Soccer. The 37-year-old attacker lands in Canada after closing his spell at Sevilla and joins as a free agent. The agreement also includes an option to extend the link during the 2027-28 season. MEP Bernd Lange calls for overturning US tariffs in court over forced labor. Montreal will register him as a franchise player, a mechanism popularly known as the 'Beckham Rule', which allows MLS clubs to have players excluded from the salary cap. The operation marks a transcendental change in the trajectory of the Chilean, who had remained in Europe uninterrupted since 2008. "I am grateful to the club for the confidence they have placed in me and I am eager to put my experience at the service of the team so that we can achieve our goals and create unforgettable moments for our fans," expressed Sánchez in the statement released by the club. "I am here to give everything for the club and for this city," he added. The close of an extensive European chapter. Sánchez arrived in European football at just 20 years old, when he left River Plate to join Udinese in Italy. From that moment he built a career that took him through seven clubs in four different leagues. In addition to Udinese and Sevilla, he wore the shirts of Barcelona, Arsenal, Manchester United, Olympique de Marseille and Inter Milan. His career included spells in the Italian Serie A, the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga and the French Ligue 1, an uncommon combination among South American players of his generation. During that period he lifted 17 official titles: three leagues, one Copa del Rey, two FA Cups, one Coppa Italia, one UEFA Super Cup, two Italian Super Cups, three Spanish Super Cups, three Community Shields and one Club World Cup. With Barcelona he shared a squad with Lionel Messi and was part of the team that won the La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the Spanish Super Cup and the Club World Cup in 2012. A new challenge in Canada. The sporting challenge he will find in Montreal is demanding. The Canadian side currently occupies the second-to-last position in the Eastern Conference with 16 points in 18 matches and is seven points away from the postseason zone. Sánchez's arrival also comes during a transitional season for MLS, which is working on adapting its calendar to that of the main European leagues. With his signing, the club bets on the international experience of the most recent benchmark of Chilean football to try to change the course of a complicated campaign. Sánchez leaves behind 18 years of European football and for the first time in his career opens a chapter in North America, where he will seek to bring leadership and experience to a team in need of immediate results.

TeamSnap and Major League Soccer have expanded their partnership to deliver exclusive training content for youth soccer coaches and players. The collaboration introduces a new curriculum featuring drills and practice plans from MLS NEXT, the elite youth development platform for players aged 13-19. The content is available exclusively on TeamSnap's platforms, including MOJO and TeamSnap ONE. It builds on earlier releases of individual training videos from MLS GO for recreational players aged 4-14. The curriculum was produced at San Diego Soccer Academy and features competitive players from Southern California alongside MLS-affiliated coaches. TeamSnap first partnered with MLS in 2023 following its acquisition of MOJO Sports. TeamSnap serves over 30 million users across more than 100 sports and partners with major leagues including MLB, Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA, NFL FLAG, and Premier Lacrosse League.

MLS named LAFC co-owner Larry Berg as its next commissioner. Here's what to know. August 5, 2026 12:00 AM * Becky Sullivan Primary content. Los Angeles FC co-owner Larry Berg has been tapped to be the next commissioner of Major League Soccer. / AP Major League Soccer owners voted this week to name Los Angeles F.C. co-owner Larry Berg as their next commissioner - the man they hope will lead the league into the future and nearer to long-held ambitions of prominence among American sports fans and global soccer leagues. Berg will officially become the first new MLS commissioner in 27 years on Jan. 1, 2027, after a transition period with outgoing head Don Garber. In his decades on the job, Garber oversaw the league's glow-up from a cash-poor 10-team afterthought to the full-sized, mature league it is today, complete with 23 soccer-specific stadiums and youth academies for every team. "I've experienced this sport as a player, a fan and owner, and now with tremendous humility as commissioner," Berg said at an introductory press conference Tuesday. "Every one of those experiences has reinforced the same belief: The future of Major League Soccer has never been brighter." The transition comes at a pivotal moment for MLS, which is hoping for a boost to attendance and ratings in the wake of this summer's FIFA World Cup in North America. Next year, the league will shift its long-time season calendar to a summer-to-spring schedule to align with Europe's professional leagues. Ahead lie other challenges that have game-changing potential for the league, including looming labor negotiations and the expiration of the current media rights deal with Apple TV in 2029. Around 125 candidates were considered for the job before owners voted among finalists this week to select Berg. His professional background is in private equity, and LAFC, the team he's been with since its founding in 2014, which is widely regarded as one of the most capably run franchises in MLS. Read on for more: Who is Larry Berg? Berg is known best in the soccer world for his co-ownership of Los Angeles FC, which debuted in 2018 and has quickly become one of the league's most successful franchises. Under Berg's co-ownership, the team has won an MLS Cup and a U.S. Open Cup and has twice finished as the league's best regular-season team. Manu Duah (r) of San Diego FC controls the ball against Joaquin Pereyra of Minnesota United FC on August 01, 2026 in St. Paul, Minnesota. / Getty Images Berg has also served as co-chair of the league's Sporting and Competition Committee, the body that oversees rule changes, such as the forthcoming calendar switch. "That was way before he had the ambition to be commissioner, and he brought to that role an entirely modern and forward-thinking perspective as to where the product could be on the field," Garber said Tuesday. What is his background? Berg, who is 60, grew up playing soccer. On Tuesday, he recalled joining a youth league as an 8-year-old in his hometown of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in 1974. (Back then, there were only two teams in the league, so they played each other every weekend, he joked.) He was an accomplished high school player who competed in a state championship against future Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes. Berg was an early megafan of Major League Soccer who attended the Los Angeles Galaxy's inaugural home game in 1996. Berg studied economics and business at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, and then at Harvard University. Ultimately, he pursued a career in private equity, becoming a senior partner at the firm Apollo Global Management, one of the world's largest private equity firms. Berg says he will divest his ownership stake in LAFC in order to take the job as commissioner. Asked Tuesday about how his background in private equity would inform his approach to the job, Berg said he believed it would be an advantage. "It's about a sense of urgency. It's about rolling up the sleeves, being in the trenches, asking good questions, aligning people toward a common goal," he said. General view inside the stadium prior to the MLS match between Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Los Angeles Football Club at BC Place on August 01, 2026 in Vancouver, British Columbia. / Getty Images What is Berg's vision for MLS? In 2020, Berg boldly predicted that soccer and MLS would surpass baseball and hockey to become the No. 3 sport in the U.S. behind football and basketball. On Tuesday, he said he still believed in that vision. (A recent Gallup poll found that professional soccer ranked in the middle of the pack when respondents were asked whether they were a fan of a wide variety of sports, including the major American professional and college sports, along with Olympic sports like figure skating. In terms of pro sports, soccer finished behind football, basketball and baseball but ahead of ice hockey, tennis and golf.) "As we look ahead five to ten years from now, I hope people won't simply say that Major League Soccer got bigger. I hope they'll say it got better - better competition, better player development, stronger clubs, deeper connections with supporters, greater success internationally, and a league that inspired more young people across North America to fall in love with this game," Berg said Tuesday. To accomplish all that, he said, the league must start by improving the quality of the on-field game. "I would say that's my No. 1 job," he said. "We will have more transfer revenues, and we'll have more media money, and that'll all lead to better product on the field. And that will become a flywheel, because it leads to more transfers and more revenue money and more media money." What are the big challenges ahead? There's been a lot of chatter in the MLS world about the league's current roster rules and spending restrictions, with owners eager to simplify regulations and allow for more spending. Those changes will likely be subject to a negotiation with the MLS players' union, whose current contract is in place until Jan. 31, 2028. The other big item is the league's media rights deal. Right now, MLS earns about $250 million per year from Apple TV, the streaming provider that carries every MLS game (with some games simulcast on Fox and its suite of channels). League leadership believes that number could be significantly higher in the future. "It's about finding media partners that want to co-create the future with us. It's about co-creating. It's about what's interesting to them, what's interesting to us," Berg said Tuesday. He raised the possibility of changing "certain things to [a media partner's] benefit," citing the controversial World Cup "hydration breaks" that allowed broadcasters to air valuable commercials during games. What does he think about promotion and relegation? This one's for the soccerheads. Some vocal fans have called for implementing a Europe-style promotion-relegation system in U.S. soccer. Supporters of the idea believe it would incentivize lower-performing teams to remain competitive to avoid relegation to a lower division. Investors and team owners generally oppose the idea, because relegation can be a financial disaster for teams, and they want to protect their multimillion-dollar investments. On Tuesday, Berg was directly asked about the idea. "I don't think it's a great way to build the league. I don't think it's a way to get stadiums built and to get training facilities built and to have owners invest in rosters and all the other things you need to do," he said. "I just don't see it happening any time soon." Bottom content. Support quality journalism. GPB is committed to bringing you comprehensive news coverage from Georgia, across the country and around the world. Your support makes this possible. Please consider making a gift today to support this vital public service.