MIAMI (AP) — Lionel Messi and Inter Miami will play a Major League Soccer match in their new stadium for the first time on April 4, one of the highlights of the league's schedule that was revealed Thursday.
The 2026 MLS regular season starts Feb. 21 and runs through Nov. 7. It'll be the last season in the February-to-November model, with a shortened season planned for 2027 and then the new summer-to-spring calendar for the 2027-28 campaign to closer align with other global leagues.
Inter Miami will open the season with five consecutive road matches, which presumably will allow for the finishing touches to be made to Miami Freedom Park — the team's still-under-construction home near Miami International Airport. It's not clear yet if there will be preseason or other matches at the stadium before the April 4 date.
The home opener for Inter Miami will be against Austin FC, a 7:30 p.m. start inside the new 25,000-seat stadium. Messi signed a three-year extension in recent weeks to remain with the team into 2028 and getting that deal done cemented that he — as the team long hoped — would be there for the start of their run at the new facility.
Miami Freedom Park's opening will start a planned run of three new MLS stadiums in a three-season span, with New York City FC's Etihad Park set to open in 2027 and a new downtown stadium for Chicago Fire FC slated to open in 2028.
There will be a nearly two-month break for the FIFA World Cup, with no matches scheduled between May 25 and July 16.
Among the final pre-break matches: a doubleheader on FOX on May 24 with Inter Miami facing Philadelphia followed by LAFC against Seattle.
The MLS season will resume shortly before the end of the World Cup; MLS has some rivalry games scheduled for July 16 and 17, prior to the third-place match on July 18 and the World Cup final on July 19.
All 510 MLS regular season matches next season will be available on Apple TV in more than 100 countries and regions, with no blackouts and — in a change — no additional subscription required. Some MLS matches will also be available on FOX networks in the U.S., along with TSN and RDS in Canada.
There will be 15 matches on the season's opening weekend, Feb. 21 and 22. Among them: St. Louis City SC playing host to Charlotte FC on Feb. 21, before FC Cincinnati takes on Atlanta United in the return of coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino.
Also that night: Messi and Inter Miami open the season against LAFC at the iconic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Among the Feb. 22 slate: LA Galaxy hosting New York City FC for Sunday Night Soccer on Apple TV, followed by the Seattle Sounders FC and Colorado Rapids playing on FS1.
The MLS All-Star Game will be in Charlotte on July 29, one day after the skills challenge. The opponent for the MLS All-Star Game has yet to be announced.
The league will observe FIFA's November window before opening the playoffs, which will allow for the postseason to run without interruption starting Nov. 18.
The league has not revealed the full postseason schedule.
AP MLS: https://apnews.com/hub/mls-soccer
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi, left, points to teammate Mateo Silvetti (not shown) after scoring during the first half of Game 3 in the first round of MLS soccer's Western Conference playoffs against Nashville SC in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Nov. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Laughlin)
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi, left, celebrates with forward Mateo Silvetti, right, after scoring during the first half of Game 3 in the first round of MLS soccer's Western Conference playoffs against Nashville SC in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Nov. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Laughlin)
Saudi Arabia warned of a “hostile aerial threat” and issued a string of emergency alerts across the kingdom, including in its capital, late Friday and early Saturday.
Also Saturday, Iran’s state TV reported that a man was executed after being convicted on charges of spying for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Saturday. Full coverage is available here.
Saudi Arabia warned of a “hostile aerial threat” after issuing emergency alerts, and at least one explosion was heard in Riyadh.
The alert in Riyadh was the first for the Saudi capital since the latest escalation with Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
No casualties or damage were reported after the alerts were lifted. Saudi authorities didn't say what prompted the alerts or the cause of the audible explosions, but they previously reported intercepting incoming Houthi missiles and drones.
The U.N.’s most powerful body said late Friday that the Houthis' military escalation, attacks and threats “risk further expanding the conflict, threatening maritime security and international trade,” while undermining regional and international efforts to secure peace in Yemen.
It warned that continued escalation would exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation in the country.
The council's 15 members called for “practical cooperation” to prevent the Iran-backed Houthis from acquiring arms, military training, financing and other military-related assistance needed to carry out their attacks. They stressed that all countries must enforce the U.N. arms embargo against the rebel group.
Iran's state TV reported on Saturday that a man identified as Hossein Pedram was executed after being convicted on charges of spying for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad.
The report said Pedram passed on to Israel classified information on “sensitive military sites” in Iran's Isfahan province. It didn't say how he accessed the classified information.
Pedram was reportedly arrested after those sites, which included missile bases, were targeted in the 12-day air war by the U.S. and Israel against Iran in June last year.
A recent surge of executions in Iran prompted an international outcry by human rights groups.
Gaza’s Health Ministry and Shifa Hospital officials said one man was killed in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City. Another man, identified as the son of the ministry's director general, was killed as he walked in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.
The Israeli military said it struck “several military operatives” and that it would provide more details later.
The heaviest fighting between Israel and Hamas has subsided since a ceasefire took effect last October, but Israeli fire has killed more than 13,780 Palestinians in Gaza since then, according to health officials in the territory.
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says more than 280,000 children in Gaza are attending school in tents and heavily damaged classrooms after years of war.
At a UNRWA-run school in Nuseirat, some classrooms have no desks, leaving children to sit on blankets on the floor. Still, some families say that a return to school brings back a familiar sense of routine that was upended by war.
UNRWA education program chief Tawfiq al-Hourani said the agency hopes to restore conditions for schooling to the state they were three years ago when it operated 182 fully equipped schools. He said 95% of those schools have since been lost.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar discussed uninterrupted energy supplies and safe passage for commercial ships during a telephone call Saturday with his Iranian counterpart Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Dar underscored the importance of ensuring that ships pass safely and quickly, citing the potential effects of disruptions on developing countries and global supply chains. The statement did not provide details of Araghchi’s response.
Pakistan has faced rising energy prices as the tensions spiked, increasing pressure on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government. An Islamist party has threatened to march on the capital, Islamabad, unless the government lowers fuel prices.
Iran’s state TV reported Saturday that the Tehran prosecutor’s office filed charges against race organizers after women participated without covering their hair because “legal and Islamic Sharia” wasn’t observed.
The country's ruling theocracy requires women to wear scarves that cover their hair and loose-fitting clothes that hide their entire bodies.
Footage circulated online showing many women running the 10-kilometer (6-mile) race without the mandatory hair covering. Habib Sotoudehnejad, head of Tehran’s sports department, said Saturday that about 5% of participants violated race rules.
The race was run separately for men and women.
Hard liners in Iran seek harsh penalties against women who appear in public without covering their hair.
Syria’s Defense Ministry on Saturday held a funeral for 11 soldiers killed a day earlier during an explosion in the village of Ayash in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour.
The ministry did not give a reason for the blast that also wounded several other members of the military.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blast occurred in an arms depot at a military post. A similar explosion near the northwestern town of Sarmada earlier this month killed 14 people and wounded 11.
Turkey's banking watchdog, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, revoked the operating license for the Istanbul branch of Iran's Bank Mellat.
The agency said Saturday that it made the decision to protect depositors or the stability of the Turkey's financial system.
The announcement comes as the United States is demanding other countries tighten economic measures against Iran.
Bank Mellat has been subject to Western sanctions for years and was named in 2019 as having links to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps. The U.S. Treasury Department earlier this month imposed sanctions on a Turkish investment bank and two subsidiaries over alleged ties to Iran.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
Supporters of Yemen's Houthi rebels raise their rifles during a rally in support of the group and to protest Saudi Arabia's accusation that the Houthis targeted Islam's holiest site of Mecca, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
A supporter of Yemen’s Houthi rebels wears a poster showing the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque, tucked into a decorative sash above a dagger, during a rally to protest Saudi Arabia's accusation that the Houthis targeted Islam's holiest site, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. Arabic reads, "Our souls are sacrificed for it". (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
A soldier from Yemen's Houthi rebels stands in front of a giant banner of the Kaaba, during a rally to protest Saudi Arabia's accusation that the Houthis targeted Islam's holiest site in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
