October 2, 2022 – Major League Soccer (MLS) News Release
NEW YORK – The Los Angeles Football Club have won the 2022 Supporters’ Shield, awarded by the supporters to the MLS team with the best overall regular season record, by virtue of a 2-1 victory over the Portland Timbers today. With the honor, LAFC has secured the top seed and home-field advantage throughout the Audi 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs and will compete in the 2023 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League as the winner of the 2022 Supporters’ Shield.
LAFC has secured a first-round bye in the postseason and will begin their playoff journey on Oct. 20 in the Western Conference semifinals.
Led by first-year head coach Steve Cherundolo, LAFC showed tremendous year-to-year improvement, finishing at the top of league standings in 2022 after finishing ninth in the Western Conference in 2021. Sunday’s win over Portland improved the clubs record to 21-8-4 with one game remaining on their regular season schedule and set a record for wins by a first-year head coach in MLS.
Cherundolo’s first year in charge brought the best out of forward Cristian ‘Chicho’ Arango as he scored a career-high 16 goals this season, while adding five assists. Star forward Carlos Vela also joined an elite group of MLS players this season as he became just the fifth player in league history to record 10 goals and 10 assists in three different seasons. He is tied for second alongside Jaime Moreno, Preki, and Sebastian Giovinco for the most such seasons and sits just one 10-goal, 10-assist campaign from tying Diego Valeri for most in league history.
Breakout seasons from budding stars Jose Cifuentes, Diego ‘Chiqui’ Palacios, and Kwadwo Opoku contributed to LAFC’s success in 2022. Both Cifuentes and Palacios emerged as integral members of a World Cup-bound Ecuador team this season with Cifuentes producing a career-high 14 goal contributions from midfield while Palacios was named to the 2022 MLS All-Star team at left back. Likewise, 21-year-old forward Kwadwo Opoku has started 20 games for the club and is tied with Cifuentes for the third-most goals for LAFC this season with seven in his first year as a starter.
The Supporters’ Shield, which uses points per game to determine a winner, returns to the Western Conference for the first time since 2019 when LAFC won it last. Below is the list of all-time Supporters’ Shield winners, as sorted in reverse chronological order.
The Supporters’ Shield, which uses points per game to determine a…
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