2026 MLS Defense Ranking By Team

Officially two days away from the 2026 Major League Soccer season kicking off!

Rankings continued - Empire Soccer Report's ranking of MLS defenses by conference:

2026 MLS Eastern Conference Team Defenses Ranked

1. FC Cincinnati (Hadebe - Robinson - Miazga)

2. Inter Miami (Reguilón - Micael - Falcón - Fray)

3. Charlotte FC (Toffolo - Ream - Kessler/Privett - Byrne)

4. Philadelphia Union (Harriel/Ndinga - Makhanya - Larsen - Westfield)

5. Nashville SC (Lovitz - Woledzi - Palacios - Najar)

6. Chicago Fire (Gutman - Elliot - Mbokazi/Waterman - Barroso)

7. Columbus Crew (Amundsen - Zawadazki - Moreira)

8. New York City FC (O'Toole - Gustavo - Martins - Gray)

9. Orlando City (Marín - Jansson/Brekalo - Iago - Dorsey)

10. Atlanta United (Amador - Berrocal - Mihaj - Hernández)

11. Toronto FC (Pereira - Gomis/Thompson - Zimmerman - Laryea)

12. DC United (Kurokawa - Rowles - S. Nealis/Bartlett - Herrera)

13. CF Montreal (Petrasso - Vera - Morales/Aviles - Bugaj)

14. New England Revolution (Miller - Fofana - Ceballos - Feingold)

15. Red Bull New York (Valencia - Voloder/Parker - D. Nealis/Che - Marshall-Rutty)

2026 MLS Western Conference Team Defenses Ranked

1. Seattle Sounders (Nouhou - Ragen - Yeimar - A. Roldan)

2. Vancouver Whitecaps (Adekugbe/Johnson - Priso/Veselinovic - Blackmon - Ocampo/Laborda)

3. Minnesota United (Markanich - Romero - Boxall - Harvey - Hlongwane)

4. LA Galaxy (Nelson/Aude - Garces/Yoshida - Glesnes - Yamane)

5. Los Angeles FC (Hollingshead/Segura - Segura/Tafari - Porteous - Palencia)

6. San Diego FC (Bombino - Duah - McVey - Eisner)

7. FC Dallas (Kamungo - Norris - Ughoghide - Moore - Johansson)

8. Colorado Rapids (Vines - Cobb/Murphy - Holding - Cannon)

9. Austin FC (Biro/Rosales - Hines-Ike - Svatok - Desler)

10. Real Salt Lake (Engel - Glad - Yedlin)

11. Portland Timbers (Fory - Miller - Surman - Mosquera)

12. St. Louis City (Wallem - F. Fall - Polvara - M. Fall - Totland)

13. Houston Dynamo (Andrade - Carlos/Halter - Sviatchenko - Holmes?)

14. San Jose Earthquakes (Jones - Roberts - Romney - Kikanovic)

15. Sporting KC (Bassong - Meyer - James - Reynolds)

Empire Soccer Report Episode 6 is live!

In the latest episode of Empire Soccer Report, James Birle is joined by Zach Feldman of @rbnyszn and the UnfilteRED podcast. With preseason coming to a close, James and Zach analyze the Red Bulls' performance in the Torneo de Tejas, the Wiki Carmona for Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty trade and more: