New York City FC is back in the MLS Cup Playoffs, as their win over Charlotte FC on Matchday 30 officially clinched a spot in the 18-team postseason field.
This is the ninth time New York City has qualified for the postseason since the 2015 season, an impressive run in which they've only missed the playoffs in that inaugural 2015 season, and in the rocky 2023 rebuilding season.
It will be a first taste of playoff soccer for Pascal Jansen, as the first-year NYCFC Head Coach checks off at least one item from his personal to-do list by guiding his team into the MLS postseason. Jansen in 2025 has already led his team to 16 regular-season wins, two more than the 2024 team earned while it finished in 6th Place in the Eastern Conference.
Hudson River Blue Staff
This win over Charlotte, the team's third straight MLS victory and second at Yankee Stadium just this week, propels New York City up to 4th Place in the Eastern Conference table, level on points with Charlotte but behind due to Charlotte having one more win – though NYCFC also still has one game in hand, having played 30 matches to Charlotte's 31 matches.
Last season, New York City's players and staff spoke regularly of wanting to finish inside the top-4 of the Eastern Conference in order to gain home-field advantage during the best-of-three Round One series that kicks off the bulk of the MLS playoff action.
They fell short of that goal a season ago, but now in 2025, as NYCFC has ripped off a 7W-1D-1L hot streak late in the regular season, Jansen's team is in prime position to actually finish strong and possibly grab one of those top four places in the table.
To get that home-field advantage this time around, New York City will have to actually finish their remaining schedule strong, which features tricky matches home against Inter Miami CF, at New York Red Bulls and at Philadelphia Union, and then back home (somewhere) to face Seattle Sounders FC on Decision Day.
We don't know where NYCFC will finish in the standings yet, but we do know the schedule for the playoffs. The Wild Card matches, the one-and-done knockout games between the 8th and 9th Placed teams in each conference, are scheduled for Wednesday, October 22, so if NYCFC slides back down the table and ends up in 8th, they'll have a midweek fixture to decide if they make the "real" playoffs and the best-of-three round.
mlssoccer
Round One, featuring those best-of-three series, kicks off on Friday, October 24, and can last as long as until Sunday, November 9, depending on how long the series go. The Conference Semifinals will be played the weekend of Saturday, November 22, while the Conference Finals are slated for the following weekend of November 29-30. Then the big one, the MLS Cup Final, will be held on Saturday, December 6.
It's unclear how far NYCFC's run will take them and where they'll ultimately finish in the table, but we now know for certain they'll be a part of the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs. Bring on some wild and crazy postseason soccer.
