MLS Cup

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Philip F. Anschutz Trophy

Founded	1994
Region	Major League Soccer (CONCACAF)
Number of teams	2 (final stage) 15 (total)
Current champions	Columbus Crew (1st time)
Most successful club	D.C. United (4 times)
Television broadcasters	ESPN, TeleFutura
MLS Cup 2009

The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer. Beginning with the 2008 MLS Cup winner, subsequent teams will receive the redesigned MLS Cup trophy, named the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy,^[1][2] for his long-standing commitment to MLS. The previous trophy was named the Alan I. Rothenberg Trophy, after the founding chairman of MLS.

MLS Cups

Notes

• Until 2003, MLS Cup utilized "sudden death" or "golden goal" overtime, i.e. the match ended if a goal were scored at any point in overtime. Beginning in 2004, two 15:00 periods are played in full; if the match is still tied, a Penalty Kick shootout is used to decide the match.
• Bold - MLS Supporters' Shield Winner
• Italics - Sellout Crowd

MLS Cup successes by club

The second version of the trophy for MLS Cup was called the Alan I. Rothenberg trophy

Most Valuable Player Award recipients

Dwayne De Rosario is the only person to be named the MLS Cup MVP more than once.

Year	Winner	Position	Club
1996	Marco Etcheverry	Midfielder	D.C. United
1997	Jaime Moreno	Forward	D.C. United
1998	Peter Nowak	Midfielder	Chicago Fire
1999	Ben Olsen	Midfielder	D.C. United
2000	Tony Meola	Goalkeeper	Kansas City Wizards
2001	Dwayne De Rosario	Forward	San Jose Earthquakes
2002	Carlos Ruiz	Forward	Los Angeles Galaxy
2003	Landon Donovan	Forward	San Jose Earthquakes
2004	Alecko Eskandarian	Forward	D.C. United
2005	Guillermo Ramírez	Midfielder	Los Angeles Galaxy
2006	Brian Ching	Forward	Houston Dynamo
2007	Dwayne De Rosario	Midfielder	Houston Dynamo
2008	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Midfielder	Columbus Crew

MLS Scudetto

At the start of the 2006 season, MLS created their version of the scudetto (Italian: "small shield"), a symbol worn on the jersey by the team who won the previous season's Serie A (the top Italian league).

The MLS scudetto was originally a curved, triangular badge featuring a backdrop of the American flag behind a replica of the Alan I. Rothenberg MLS Cup trophy. It was redesigned for the 2008 season after the change to the MLS Cup trophy. It is now an oval shaped black badge with the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy in the middle. The MLS scudetto is worn by the winning team the season following the victory. It is only during the subsequent season (two years after winning the championship), that the team adds a star — a common soccer signifier of titles won — above the team logo. The team can display the star on other items beside their jersey in the year after winning the Cup, but only if the scudetto is not shown.

• The 2005 MLS Cup champion, the Los Angeles Galaxy, was the first team to wear the scudetto and now has a second star above the team shield on the jersey during the 2007 season[1].
• The Houston Dynamo was the first team to win subsequent championships after the scudetto was unveiled. In such case, the team will wear the scudetto for another season; however, the sanctioned star will be added to the team logo.
• The Columbus Crew was the first team to wear the redesigned scudetto.

Halftime shows

• 1996 Reel 2 Reel
• 1997
• 1998
• 1999 Christina Aguilera
• 2000 Innocense
• 2001 Our Lady Peace
• 2002 Paulina Rubio
• 2003 Michelle Branch
• 2004 Switchfoot
• 2005 The Click Five
• 2006 Under the Influence of Giants
• 2007 Jimmy Eat World
• 2008 Chester French and Colby O'Donis

Notes and references