MLS Cup final 2025: What to know as the Vancouver Whitecaps take on Inter Miami

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For the first time in six years, a Canadian team is playing to bring the Major League Soccer Cup back home.

The Vancouver Whitecaps will play in the MLS championship final for their first time ever this weekend, capping off a historic playoff run that has reinvigorated soccer fans in B.C. and beyond.

Saturday’s match against Inter Miami will also see long-time rivals Lionel Messi and Thomas Müller come face-to-face for the first time since the German former World Cup champion joined Vancouver.

Here’s everything you need to know about the final, and how to watch as Vancouver looks to bring the MLS Cup back to Canada.

Thomas Müller and Lionel Messi set for showdown in MLS Cup final between Vancouver and Inter Miami

Vancouver Whitecaps earn spot in MLS Cup final against Miami after beating San Diego FC

When is the MLS Cup final between the Whitecaps and Inter Miami?

The championship match will kick-off at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m. PT). As the higher-seeded team, Inter Miami has hosting rights.

Miami’s home stadium has a capacity of just under 22,000, and a watch party at BC Place in Vancouver has already sold 16,000 of 25,000 tickets available.

It’ll be a big day for soccer in Canada and around the world, as FIFA will begin releasing the 2026 World Cup group stage match schedule that afternoon at 12 ET. This will reveal which teams will play their World Cup matches in Toronto and Vancouver.

How to watch the MLS Cup in Canada

If you’re not heading to the Sunshine State or braving the Vancouver watch-party crowds, there are several ways to watch the match from home in Canada.

Soccer fans can tune into TSN to watch the final on TV, or stream it online on TSN+. The match will be available to watch on Apple TV, but subscribers must also purchase the MLS Season Pass.

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When was the last time a Canadian team won the MLS Cup?

Toronto FC, the first MLS team in Canada, won the Cup in 2017, and made it to the final but lost in 2016 and in 2019. Canada’s third MLS team, CF Montreal, joined in 2012 but has never made it to a Cup final.

How did the Whitecaps get to the MLS Cup final?

Vancouver, which joined MLS in 2011, finished second in the Western Conference and set multiple club records this season with 18 wins (of 34 matches), 66 goals, 63 regular season points, and a +28 goal differential. Led by new coach Jesper Sørensen, the ‘Caps also claimed their third-straight Canadian Championship, and were runners up in the CONCACAF Champions Cup after falling to Liga MX’s Cruz Azul in the final in June.

Vancouver has only lost one game since Thomas Müller joined in mid-August, and the German soccer legend has likened their so-far undefeated playoff run to “a Cinderella story.” The Caps won the best-of-three first-round over Dallas in back-to-back wins, and then downed Los Angeles FC with a nail-biting shootout in the Western Conference semi-final. A 3-1 win against San Diego in last weekend’s Conference final was its first MLS conference title and punched Vancouver’s ticket to the Cup final.

The Whitecaps know the conference win was a big achievement, Müller told reporters after the match, but the team knows their work is not done. “The boys are calm. We know that there’s one more step to go. And that’s a really good feeling, to be with them.”

This is also Inter Miami’s first MLS Cup final berth since joining MLS play in 2020 as an expansion team co-owned by English soccer legend David Beckham. Messi came to Miami midway through the 2023 season, when the club was at the bottom of the league. This season, Miami finished third in the Eastern Conference and has so far scored 98 regular and postseason goals, the most in MLS history.

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How do the Whitecaps and Müller match up with Inter Miami and Messi?

The 2025 MLS Cup final is, in terms of personnel, a rematch of the 2014 World Cup final and 2010 World Cup quarter-final matches between Argentina and Germany.

Germany, with Müller, won both times. Messi played in those matches for Argentina, as did Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano. Out of 10 head-to-head match-ups, Müller has beaten Messi seven times.

As they prepare to meet again, Müller knows that facing Messi doesn’t automatically mean a loss, but the German star says it’s not about rival vs. rival.

“It’s Miami against the Whitecaps,” he told reporters after Vancouver’s conference win. “Maybe they rely a little bit more on him than we do on me, because we are such a good group.”

Without Müller, Vancouver has already faced Miami twice this year, taking a pair of wins to advance to the CONCACAF Champions Cup final, where the ’Caps ultimately fell to LIGA MX side Cruz Azul.

While Messi, who won MLS’s golden boot as this season’s top scorer, hasn’t weighed in on the rivalry, a win on Saturday would fulfil his quest to bring a Cup to the team.

“Even though he’s the best in history … it’s unfair to believe that he’s going to win every game,” Miami coach Mascherano said after their Eastern Conference victory last weekend. “Everybody [on the team] has raised their level.”

What is the format for the MLS Cup final?

The final 90-minute match will be played in two 45-minute halves, plus any extra stoppage time for injuries at the referees’ discretion.

However if the score is tied by the end of regulation, the teams will play two 15-minute extra halves in their entirety. Unlike hockey, there is no “golden goal” in extra time. If the score remains even at the end of extra time, a penalty shootout will determine the winners.

With reports from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press