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Austin FC selected to host 2025 MLS all-star game
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AUSTIN (KXAN) — The best of Major League Soccer will play at Q2 Stadium next year.
MLS commissioner Don Garber, alongside Austin FC owner Anthony Precourt and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, made the announcement Wednesday at Antone's Nightclub ahead of Verde and Black's midweek match against the Houston Dynamo.
"This is a professional major league sports town because of Austin FC," Garber said. "This is a big event, and Austin is a big-event town. This will have a global audience."
Garber said the game's opponent has yet to be determined. The game will be held in July with a more specific date to come.
From 2005 to 2016, the game featured the all-stars taking on a club team from Europe. In previous editions, a traditional split league format was used based on conferences. In 2021 and 2022, the Liga MX all-stars made appearances in the game before Arsenal came back. 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. It's the second time the game will come to Texas after the Dynamo hosted in 2010 when Manchester United thumped the MLS all-stars 5-2 at Reliant Stadium.
"Austin is now a big international city," Watson said. "It has become a focal point in the world and people look to us. The one thing that was missing from Austin was professional sports, and Austin FC gave that to us."
Austin FC has sold out 60 consecutive home matches, the longest active sellout streak in MLS, something both Garber and Watson took great pride in saying.
This year's all-star game will be at Lower.com Field in Columbus with the MLS all-stars taking on the Liga MX all-stars. In last year's game, Arsenal from the English Premier League clobbered the MLS all-stars 5-0 in Washington, D.C.
A report by ESPN on April 29 said that Austin FC was "finalizing a deal" to host the all-star game.
Q2 Stadium has hosted numerous United States National Team matches, both men and women, along with preseason matches between European clubs. The stadium's capacity is 20,738, which is about the same size as Audi Field and Lower.com Field, the most recent stadiums to host the all-star game.