• by Colin Kirkland , April 18, 2025

Despite TikTok’s uncertain future in the U.S., Major League Soccer (MLS) -- the premier men’s professional national soccer league, featuring 29 clubs across the U.S. and Canada -- is renewing its partnership with the ByteDance-owned social media company, continuing to share exclusive content, in-app programming, highlights, in-stadium activations and more. 

TikTok and MLS originally partnered in 2023 as a way for both entities to capitalize on the surge in popularity of soccer content in the app. Between 2021 and 2023, #soccer views increased by over 500%, from 40 billion to 267 billion. And between 2020 -- when the MLS created a TikTok account -- and 2023, the league amassed 1.2 million followers, over 250 million video views and 2.7 billion unique views for #MLS. 

Now, TikTok says there are almost 15 million individual posts using #soccer on the app, with nearly 9 million posts in 2024 alone. The MLS has also realized the global reach of its content, as 65% of its fanbase lives outside of the U.S., according to TikTok data. 

As an official partner of the MLS, TikTok will continue to be integrated into all league games via in-stadium branding, and will be a co-presenting sponsor of the league’s esports tournament, eMLS Cup. 

TikTok says this partnership extension will build on last year’s initiatives as well, including “Player Spotlight: Messi,” where TikTok, in partnership with Apple TV and MLS, exclusively streamed a live feed of Lionel Messi during his debut MLS Cup Playoff match for Inter Miami CF. 

This was the first time TikTok streamed an entire live soccer game with a single player focus, attracting the largest live viewership for a U.S. sports league on the social platform. 

Moving forward, users will still be able to search “MLS” on TikTok, granting them access to the MLS Hub, where they will see new content from players, offering an “unfiltered view of the sport.”

Creators will also be able to join the Club Creator Network, which pairs TikTok influencers with MLS clubs to create content during the regular and off-seasons, featuring “fan reactions, hilarious edits of game highlights, or behind-the-scenes content from the players and coaches.”