Lionel Messi, Son Heung-min and two U.S. men's national team stars will represent the 2026 MLS All-Star game in Charlotte, N.C., headlining the first eleven players unveiled for the late July matchup at Bank of America Stadium.
Messi, who will be 39 by game time, cracks his third All-Star roster since joining Inter Miami in 2023—a selection that comes with some built-in skepticism given he sat out the league's marquee event last season. Son, meanwhile, earns his first All-Star nod after joining LAFC last summer. Two World Cup-bound USMNT contributors—captain Tim Ream of Charlotte FC and Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Sebastian Berhalter—round out the early group.
Should Messi, Son, or any of the selected players choose to skip the event, they'll be suspended for their club's next MLS match. That's the kind of roster consequence that turns a casual All-Star invitation into something with actual stakes.
Dean Smith, Charlotte FC's manager, will coach the MLS side, which will face Liga MX in a skills competition on July 28 before the main showcase game the following night. The final roster will feature 26 players: fan votes, 13 picks from Smith, and two selections from MLS commissioner Don Garber.
Among the first eleven, five players already have All-Star experience—Berhalter, Messi, Hany Mukhtar, and Andy Najar all earned spots in 2025, while Ream's lone previous appearance came against Manchester United back in 2011. That's a decade gap that tells you how infrequently some of these names cycle back through.
The 2026 game marks the fifth time in six seasons the MLS All-Stars have taken on Liga MX, a format shift from the old conference showdowns and high-profile European friendly tests that once featured Arsenal, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Last year in Austin, MLS won both the skills challenge and the main match 3–1, bouncing back from a 2024 sweep.
The group includes five players headed to the 2026 World Cup: Messi leading Argentina's title defense, Son with South Korea, Berhalter and Ream with the USMNT, and Mbekezeli Mbokazi with South Africa. Mbokazi, who led fan voting, becomes just the second South African to make an MLS All-Star squad—a small but notable milestone for the league's growing international footprint.
The full 26-player roster will be announced in the coming weeks, but the first wave already sets up what should be a worthwhile mid-summer spectacle—even if one or two of the headliners decide they'd rather skip it.
First Eleven Selections
Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps), Brian Schwake (Nashville SC), Anthony Markanich (Minnesota United), Mbekezeli Mbokazi (Chicago Fire), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC), Andy Najar (Nashville SC), Zavier Gozo (Real Salt Lake), Hany Mukhtar (Nashville SC), Hugo Cuypers (Chicago Fire), Leo Messi (Inter Miami).
What the early selections suggest
There's a quiet irony in the All-Star format now leaning fully into the MLS vs. Liga MX rivalry—the same competition some fans once dismissed as an odd exhibition now anchors the league's signature midseason event for the fifth time in six years. The first eleven include a mix of proven MLS names and fresh faces, but the World Cup-bound contingent gives the roster a competitive edge that the event hasn't always enjoyed. Whether Messi actually takes the field remains the one question that no amount of fan voting or commissioner picks can answer.
The Score Still Has A Second Line
The new appointment gives everyone a fresh sentence to say. The harder work is proving the old problems were attached to the old structure.