Major League Soccer calendar switch - What can we learn from other leagues?

With expert insight 

Last week, Major League Soccer announced major changes to its calendar. From 2027 onwards, the league will move its playing calendar from a spring-to-fall schedule to a summer-to-spring schedule, following the model used by Europe’s top leagues. MLS cited the need to be more competitive relative to other big leagues in Europe and South America, as well as the global transfer market, which mainly conducts its business in the summer, as the main reasons to change the schedule.

“The calendar shift is one of the most important decisions in our history,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in an official league statement. “Aligning our schedule with the world’s top leagues will strengthen our clubs’ global competitiveness, create better opportunities in the transfer market, and ensure our Audi MLS Cup Playoffs take center stage without interruption. It marks the start of a new era for our league and for soccer in North America.”

Moving the calendar also comes with significant issues. Teams playing Eastern Canada and the American Midwest will now face more games in the winter. On the flipside, there is now a reduced risk for the MLS Cup final to be played in winter conditions. The league faced those issues four times when Toronto FC hosted the final in 2016 and 2017, and the Columbus Crew hosted it in 2020 and 2023. Logistically, moving the calendar from a spring-to-fall to summer-to-fall schedule is quite a challenge.

Calendar switch: What can MLS learn from other leagues?

MLS will do this by playing a condensed spring season in 2027 before switching to the new calendar (you can read more about it here). But what has been the experience like for other leagues? A couple of examples stand out. Ukraine made the switch from the old Soviet Vyschaya Liga spring-to-fall calendar in its second season. Russia, in the meantime, waited longer. The Russian Vyschaya Liga, later known as the Russian Premier Liga, made the switch in 2011/12.

Starting in March 2011, the Russian Premier Liga played an 18-month mammoth season that would last until the spring of the following year. After 30 regular-season games, the 16-team table was split into a championship round and a relegation round, with the eight teams in each group playing an additional 14 games. The two bottom teams in the relegation round were relegated, with the next two teams up the table playing relegation playoffs against second-division teams. As a result, teams played between 44 and 46 domestic games respectively.

What was the reason? Like MLS, the Russian Premier Liga sought to close the competitive gap with the top European leagues. Aligning the calendar with other European leagues was supposed to help teams compete in Europe. Like MLS, the transfer window was another major issue. By moving the calendar from fall-to-spring, clubs felt they could more easily attract top talent from the rest of Europe and South America. The results, however, were questionable; Russia ranked seventh in UEFA five-year rankings in 2011/12 and only once, in 2018/19, improved that standing to sixth. Since February 2022, Russian clubs have been suspended from UEFA competitions after the country’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. The suspension aside, Russian football has also struggled with other issues since making the switch.

“The main problem was the issue of team composition before the start of the season,” Georgiy Lekarev, Area Manager at Transfermarkt.world, said. “It is no secret that 95% of Russian football clubs are completely dependent on the formation of regional budgets for the year. Private clubs are not funded from the state budget of the city or region, which forms the budget before the start of the new calendar year, and by the summer, this budget has long been allocated, making it difficult for many clubs to conduct a high-quality selection process and avoid falling into debt during the season.”

“As a result of the transition to a new system of play in Russia, several dozen clubs that had existed since the 20th century disappeared from the football map,” Lekarev added. “Many clubs have been able to adapt over the years, but this has created another problem: in the summer, when the temperature is more favorable for playing football, it is not used to its full potential, while in the middle of the season takes place in cold temperatures. Over the past few years, indoor football arenas have been built in Siberia, and the stadiums built for the 2018 World Cup offer favorable conditions for players and fans. However, there are not enough such stadiums for the whole country, so many games in late autumn and spring are played on football fields of terrible quality.”

J-League: Calendar switch one year ahead of MLS

While Russia has made the change, in Japan, the J-League is about to make the same calendar switch MLS is planning for 2027 in 2026. We spoke to our Transfermarkt Area Manager in Japan, Takako Maruga, about J-League’s motivation for changing from the spring-to-fall to the summer-to-spring calendar.

“I am surprised that the actions and thinking of MLS and J-League behind the season adjustment to the European calendar are very similar,” Maruga said. “After the current season, which will end in December, the J-League will play a short special season. Then a summer break and the World Cup will follow. Then, in August 2026, the new J-League season will kick off. The J-League has discussed the calendar switch for some time. There was some opposition as clubs from the north, where snow is common, felt disadvantaged by playing in the winter.”

As it turned out, however, the league managed to quell the concerns raised by cold-weather markets. “But despite the opposition, the J-League went through with the change as it wants to become a more serious actor in the global transfer market,” Maruga said. “Every year, Japanese talent moves to Europe for relatively little money, only to be transferred within Europe for bigger fees. Japanese clubs had to watch on without earning significant fees.”

Furthermore, in Japan, the reforms go way beyond a shift in the schedule. “As part of the reform, a U21 league will also be introduced to allow for more playing time and tie players to J-League clubs rather than being transferred from high schools and universities abroad,” Maruga said. “The J-League will also support clubs that will conduct their summer training camps in Europe to grow their networks. It will be interesting to follow what the changes are and how they will impact the J-League, especially one year before MLS will make a similar change.”

Spring-to-fall schedule – Will other leagues follow?

While MLS and the J-League have switched, several other leagues will continue to operate on a spring-to-fall calendar. The major leagues in Scandinavia, for example, use the spring-to-fall calendar despite playing in major European club competitions. The same can be said in South America, where Brazil plays in the spring-to-fall calendar. We reached out to our data scouts and Area Managers to get their feedback on the status of those leagues, how it impacts the transfer business, and whether there are any plans to change the schedule.

Patrick Balonier (aka Finnland), Transfermarkt Data Scout Finland: There are no discussions about changing the calendar for the Veikkausliiga. The transfer window also isn’t a major issue, as players who can’t find a club often consider Finland as an option when the window is closed elsewhere. At times, the league schedule can also be tough. KUPS made the UEFA Conference League group stage and ended up playing a game every three to four days.

That might be tough, but the results have been good as the club won the league. In the summer, clubs have a four-week window to sign new players, and Finland's tax system makes the league quite competitive. If you sign a player in the summer, gross salary is the same as net salary, and that is a big advantage.

Bastian Schmitz (aka ARTURUS), Transfermarkt Data Scout Norway: There are no plans to switch the calendar in Norway for the Eliteserien. The climatic conditions make it difficult to implement anything else. The ramifications mainly concern the longer winter break (usually between December and April), which puts Norwegian teams participating in European competitions at a disadvantage. The clubs have to stay fit outside their season, usually with training camps in Spain in January.

Another disadvantage is that only a limited number of new players can be registered for European competitions, so it has happened in the past that it was not possible to register all new arrivals, especially during winter, when larger squad changes can occur due to the end of the season.

The impact on transfers is rather small, as the new signings mostly come from the Scandinavian leagues. Sometimes, larger outgoing transfers are delayed until the summer window because that's when the bigger leagues have the most available budget. Norwegian clubs would prefer to complete these transfers in the winter window, but that's not always possible.

Joel Claesson (aka Joelcla), Transfermarkt Data Scout Sweden: There’s always been talk about playing autumn to spring, but it has never really come close to switching the schedule of the Allsvenskan. The main reason Sweden plays a spring-to-autumn season is the snowy, cold climate from December to February. The biggest disadvantage for the Swedish clubs with playing from spring to autumn is that for Swedish clubs playing in Europe competitions. It gets harder for the players to maintain the form, and they pretty much train for that game. Good examples are Djurgården and Elfsborg last season.

I wouldn’t say this isn’t the reason the clubs in Sweden aren’t doing outstandingly; they have their moments. This year has been rough; last year was good, so how it goes in Europe pretty much depends on timing and on how good form the Swedish clubs are when the European campaign starts. Looking at Malmö and Häcken, they had overall “bad seasons” for their standard, which has impacted them in Europe.

Transfers are a growing concern. It’s understandable that the clubs won’t let their key players leave during the summer. Looking at Mjällby, for example, they only agreed to transfers where they got to keep the players for the remaining part of the season. Most clubs around Europe smash their cash during the summer, meaning it’s most likely that the clubs will get a bigger fee if they were to sell in the summer or at least try to negotiate for more money.

Scott Christensen (Transfermarkt Area Manager Argentina & South America): In Argentina (and many other South American leagues), we play two short tournaments per year, one in each semester. The league has switched many times in terms of format, number of teams, dates, etc. - for example, now we have Apertura and Clausura, a few years ago we had Copa de la Liga Profesional (a group stage plus a playoff format) and Liga Profesional, which is a normal league format, and about ten years ago we had a long tournament per year. It basically changes depending on who's in charge of the league. Fans have been complaining about this for years, as our league is getting less serious each year.

In terms of transfers, it has a negative impact for the whole continent in my opinion, as the strong European transfer window is in their summer—our winter—which is half of the season for international competitions. For example, Franco Mastantuono left River Plate after the group stage of the Copa Libertadores, being a key player, and they had no time to find a solid replacement with enough time for adaptation. This happens very often, and because of the economy, it's impossible for our clubs to refuse the European fees, even though they wouldn't want to sell their players.

Thiago Rabelo (Transfermarkt Content Manager Brazil): Brazil has no plans to overhaul its national football calendar in the near future. The last serious debate on the issue dates back to 2014, in the aftermath of the country's devastating 7–1 defeat to Germany at the World Cup. That result triggered widespread calls for structural reform across Brazilian football. Clubs, officials, and commentators pushed for everything from a full-scale revolution to measures that might soften the long-term impact of the historic loss.

Yet several factors continue to hinder any substantial change. The main one is the climate. December and January — Brazil’s peak holiday months — routinely see temperatures climb to 40°C, making daytime matches virtually unfeasible. Cultural factors add another layer of resistance. The country effectively pauses during Christmas and New Year, a period traditionally incompatible with a packed football schedule.

Although the CBF has announced an updated calendar for 2026, the federation has not entertained aligning Brazil’s schedule with the European football season. Instead, the Brasileirão will adopt a January-to-December format for its national competitions next year, replacing the current model in which most regional competitions are played from January to March, and the national league kicks off in April. There's also not much difference in terms of transfer periods, as the European summer and winter transfer windows are just reversed here: Europe's mid-season transfer period takes place in Brazil's post-season, while Europe's post-season transfer period falls in the middle of Brazil's football calendar.