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Real Salt Lake's 2025 MLS season kicks off Feb. 22 with away game in San Jose

Real Salt Lake's 2025 MLS season kicks off Feb. 22 with away game in San Jose

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Real Salt Lake unveiled its entire 2025 MLS Season on Thursday, along with a few crucial dates such as the club's return to the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Real Salt Lake will kick off its 21st campaign in Major League Soccer with an away game against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, Feb. 22. Just a week later, on Saturday, March 1, RSL will host the Seattle Sounders in an afternoon game for the club's home opener.

Real Salt Lake will officially have its fate for the postseason sealed on Decision Day with a game away from home on Saturday, Oct. 4, against St. Louis CITY SC.

Overall, the 2025 MLS schedule format will see every MLS team competing in 34 regular season games - 17 at home and 17 away. Clubs will play their conference opponents twice - once at home and once away - and each club will play six cross-conference opponents throughout the season. The season will culminate with the MLS Cup Final, scheduled to be played on Saturday, Dec. 6.

Unfortunately for soccer fans hoping to catch a glimpse of Lionel Messi or Luis Suarez at America First Field, Inter Miami is not scheduled to visit the Wasatch Front in the 2025 season.

There will still be plenty of star power coming to Utah through the 2025 season, however, as Marco Reus, Riqui Puig, and the MLS Cup-winning LA Galaxy are slated to play RSL on Saturday, April 5.

Overall, RSL's 2025 campaign will include nine potential CONCACAF Champions Cup games and 34 MLS regular-season matches. RSL's CONCACAF run starts just days ahead of MLS league play when the boys in claret-and-cobalt travel to Costa Rica to play CS Herediano in RSL's first return to the continental competition since 2016.

A full breakdown of RSL's 2025 season can be found below:

Preseason Matchups

Real Salt Lake players are expected to report for preseason beginning Jan. 11, just two weeks before they depart to Santa Barbara for a pair of preseason friendlies against NYCFC and Minnesota United at the end of January.

February will open with games against San Jose Earthquakes, MLS Cup runner-up New York Red Bulls, and USL Championship side Las Vegas Lights FC for the Coachella Valley Invitational.

CONCACAF Champions Cup

The competitive season for Real Salt Lake begins on Wednesday, Feb. 19 with RSL's return to the CONCACAF Champions Cup. The team will play CS Herediano in the first leg of the competition before hosting the team for the second leg on Wednesday, Feb. 26.

Should RSL advance in the tournament, the club will face LA Galaxy in a two-leg series on March 5 and March 12.

The Rocky Mountain Cup

The battle to reclaim the Rocky Mountain Cup from the Colorado Rapids will begin on Saturday, May 17, in Colorado. The Rocky Mountain Cup will be played for in a two-game series with the first match being hosted at Dick Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo.

Real Salt Lake will then host the Colorado Rapids to decide the fate of the Rocky Mountain Cup in the team's penultimate match of the season on Saturday, Oct. 4.

New kids on the block

Real Salt Lake will host expansion side San Diego FC on Saturday, March 8. The club has a record of 10 wins, five losses, and three draws all-time against expansion teams making their first visit to Utah. The record marks what should be another exciting game with a new club in MLS.

The Utah team will make its first trip to Snapdragon Stadium in California on Saturday, April 26.

Eastern Conference matches

While RSL will not be seeing Lionel Messi and the Inter Miami contingent this year, the Salt Lake team has three matches against Eastern Conference foes. The first is against Nashville FC on Saturday, April 12, for the club's first Tennessee visit since 2022.

Real Salt Lake will then play the MLS Cup runner-ups, New York Red Bulls, on Sunday, Aug. 10, and Charlotte FC on Saturday, Aug. 16.

Three eastern conference teams will make the trip out to Utah with Toronto FC visiting America First Field on Saturday, April 19, D.C. United on Saturday, June 14, and FC Cincinnati on Saturday, July 19.

Firework Games

If you are looking for a nice summer outing complete with a fireworks display, RSL will host St. Louis CITY SC on Saturday, July 5, and the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, July 26. Both games will be celebrated with fireworks shows shortly after the final whistle honoring Independence Day and Pioneer Day, respectively.

Extended road trips

The claret-and-cobalt will have its longest multi-game road stretch of the season beginning on Saturday, April 26, with its trip to San Diego. RSL is then scheduled to play Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday, May 3, and FC Dallas away from home on Saturday, May 10.

The road stretch comes during a run that sees Real Salt Lake play six of eight games on the road, including Austin FC on May 28 and LA Galaxy on May 31.

Extended home play

June and July will see a flip of RSL's road stretch with six of eight games from June 14 to July 26 being played on Utah soil. This stretch of games will see Real Salt Lake host D.C. United, LAFC, St. Louis CITY FC, Houston Dynamo, FC Cincinnati, and San Jose Earthquakes with only two games away against Sporting Kansas City and Portland Timbers.

The home-heavy stretch also includes two bye weekends on the 2025 calendar.

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