LA Galaxy is a professional soccer team in the United States. Also called the Los Angeles Galaxy or los Galácticos, the team competes in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top soccer league in the United States and Canada. The team plays its home games at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.
The LA Galaxy was one of the founding teams of MLS in 1996. That year, the Galaxy won the Western Conference but lost the first MLS Cup championship final to D.C. United. The Galaxy again lost to D.C. United in the 1999 MLS Cup final. LA failed once more in the MLS Cup final against the San Jose Earthquakes in 2001 but returned in 2002 to finally claim its first MLS Cup title against the New England Revolution. Since then, the Galaxy has won the MLS Cup four more times (2005, 2011, 2012, and 2014). The team made the Cup final in 2009 but lost to Real Salt Lake. The Galaxy has won the Supporters’ Shield four times (1998, 2001, 2010, and 2011) as the MLS team with the best regular season record.
LA has qualified several times for the CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football) Champions League, an annual tournament among that region’s best professional clubs. The club won the tournament in 2000, when it was called the Champions Cup. The Galaxy made the semifinals of the 2012-2013 Champions League and the finals of the 2020 Champions League. A number of international stars have played for the LA Galaxy, including David Beckham, Landon Donovan, Steven Gerrard, Zlatan Ibrahimović, and Robbie Keane.
