{"id":910804,"date":"2026-06-06T13:13:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T18:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/06\/mls-names-first-xi-for-2026-all-star-game-roster-mlssoccer-com\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T13:13:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T18:13:30","slug":"mls-names-first-xi-for-2026-all-star-game-roster-mlssoccer-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/06\/mls-names-first-xi-for-2026-all-star-game-roster-mlssoccer-com\/","title":{"rendered":"MLS names First XI for 2026 All-Star Game roster | MLSSoccer.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<div>\n<p>MLS has announced the First XI players named to the 2026 MLS All-Star Game presented by Chime roster.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Selected through a combined vote of MLS fans, players and media members, the First XI highlights standout performers from the first part of the MLS regular season.<\/p>\n<p>In the 2026 MLS All-Star Game presented by Chime, the MLS All-Stars will face a team of All-Stars from Mexico\u2019s LIGA MX on Wednesday, July 29 at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/charlotte-fc\/\">Charlotte FC<\/a>\u2019s Bank of America Stadium (8 pm ET | <a href=\"https:\/\/soc.cr\/4anADkS\" target=\"_blank\">Apple TV<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3><strong>2026 MLS All-Star Game presented by Chime First XI<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Goalkeeper:<\/strong> Brian Schwake (Nashville SC)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Left Back:<\/strong> Anthony Markanich (Minnesota United FC)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Center Backs:<\/strong> Mbekezeli Mbokazi (Chicago Fire FC), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Right Back:<\/strong> Andy Najar (Nashville SC)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Defensive Midfielder:<\/strong> Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps FC)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Attacking Midfielders:<\/strong> Zavier Gozo (Real Salt Lake), Hany Mukhtar (Nashville SC)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Forwards:<\/strong> Hugo Cuypers (Chicago Fire FC), Son Heung-Min (LAFC), Leo Messi (Inter Miami CF)<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>First XI notes<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>In total, five of the 11 players will compete at this summer&#8217;s 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/fifa-world-cup\/\">FIFA World Cup<\/a>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/sebastian-berhalter\">Sebastian Berhalter<\/a> (United States), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/son-heung-min\/\">Son Heung-Min<\/a> (South Korea), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/mbekezeli-mbokazi\/\">Mbekezeli Mbokazi<\/a> (South Africa), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/lionel-messi\/\">Leo Messi<\/a> (Argentina) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/tim-ream\/\">Tim Ream<\/a> (United States).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Mbokazi led all players in fan votes and is the second South African player selected to an MLS All-Star Game roster in league history (Doctor Khumalo in 1996).<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Son is the second South Korean player to be named an All-Star, joining his current national team head coach and former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/la-galaxy\/\">LA Galaxy<\/a> defender Hong Myung-Bo (2003).<\/p>\n<p>At 19 years old, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/zavier-gozo\/\">Zavier Gozo<\/a> is the second teenager to be selected to an MLS All-Star Game in the last five editions, joining Obed Vargas (2025).<\/p>\n<p>Atop the Supporters\u2019 Shield standings and on a record pace in 2026, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/nashville-sc\/\">Nashville SC<\/a> led all clubs with three First XI selections, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/chicago-fire-fc\/\">Chicago<\/a> had two players selected.<\/p>\n<p>Of the 11 players, five have previously been selected as MLS All-Stars \u2013 Berhalter (2025), Messi (2024-25),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/hany-mukhtar\/\">Mukhtar<\/a> (2022-25), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/andy-najar\/\">Najar<\/a> (2025), and Ream (2011).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><h3>Remaining selections<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>To round out the 26-player MLS All-Star roster, the remaining 15 selections will consist of:<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>13 players chosen by MLS All-Star head coach Dean Smith of the host club, Charlotte FC<\/li>\n<li>2 players selected by MLS Commissioner Don Garber<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>The full MLS All-Star Game presented by Chime roster will be announced at a later date.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/allstar\/2026\/news\/mls-names-first-xi-for-2026-all-star-game-roster\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Leigha Kucera<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer MLS has announced the First XI players named to the 2026 MLS All-Star Game presented by Chime roster. Selected through a combined vote of MLS fans, players and media members, the First XI highlights standout performers from the first part of the MLS regular season. In the 2026 MLS All-Star Game presented by Chime, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":910805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[673,1789,2005],"tags":[5719,12700],"class_list":["post-910804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-first","category-names","category-soccer","tag-first","tag-names"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=910804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/910805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=910804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=910804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=910804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}