AUSTIN (KXAN) — Major League Soccer’s best players will play at Q2 Stadium next year.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber made the announcement Wednesday at Antone’s Nightclub, alongside Austin FC owner Anthony Precourt and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, ahead of the Verde and Black’s midweek match against the Houston Dynamo.
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“It’s a professional major league sports town because of Austin FC,” Garber said. “It’s a big event, and Austin is a big event town. “It will have a global audience.”
Garber said the game’s opponent has not yet been determined. The game will be held in July, with a date yet to be confirmed.
From 2005 to 2016, the game featured All-Stars competing against a club team from Europe. In previous editions, the traditional split league format based on conference was used. In 2021 and 2022, the Liga MX All-Stars participated in the game before Arsenal returned. The first All-Star Game was held in 1996.
Austin has been in MLS since 2021 and will host the star-studded event for the first time. This is the second time the game will come to Texas after the Dynamo hosted in 2010 when Manchester United defeated the MLS All-Stars 5-2 at Reliant Stadium.
“Austin is a big international city now,” Watson said. “It has become a focal point in the world and people look up to us. “The one thing Austin didn’t have was professional sports, and Austin FC gave that to us.”
Austin FC has sold out 60 consecutive home games, the longest active sellout streak in MLS, something both Garber and Watson were proud to say.
This year’s All-Star Game will take place at Lower .Com Field in Columbus, pitting the MLS All-Stars against the Liga MX All-Stars. In last year’s game, the English Premier League’s Arsenal defeated the MLS All-Stars 5–0 in Washington, DC.
On April 29, an ESPN report stated that Austin FC was “finalizing a deal” to host the All-Star Game.
Q2 Stadium has hosted preseason matches between European clubs as well as several United States national team matches for both men and women. The stadium has a capacity of 20,738, which is comparable in size to Audi Field and Lower Coombs Field, the most recent stadiums to host the All-Star Game.
