Everything supporters should know about NYCFC's 2026 schedule | OneFootball

Normally, Major League Soccer releases the upcoming season schedules in December.  As such, fans of New York City FC and other teams often patiently wait for the release a few weeks after the MLS Cup Championship for the schedules to come out.  However, this year, MLS shocked everyone and released the 2026 regular season schedules on November 20, 2025, about one month earlier compared to the last few years.

It is possible the schedules were released earlier due to the World Cup.  The season is not necessarily starting earlier, though.  Rather, it will end a few weeks later than usual.  The season will begin the weekend of February 21-22, and then will end on Decision Day on November 7.  To compare, the first game in 2025 was played on February 22, and Decision Day was October 18.

As mentioned, this year is the World Cup, and the United States, Canada, and Mexico are hosting.  As such, the league will pause from May 25 through July 16.  It would not be surprising for teams to schedule friendlies around this time to keep players who are not participating in the tournament fresh.  Hopefully, the Leagues Cup will not be scheduled during this time, for the focus will be on the biggest competition in the world.

But what about NYCFC?  What does their regular season look like?  Is the team's schedule fair?

Looking at NYCFC’s 2026 schedule

Before getting into the schedule, it is, of course, important to know where the team will be playing.  The Pigeons, pending all goes according to plan with the stadium construction, will be playing their final season in stadiums that are not their home.  Although with a shortened season expected before the schedule switch in 2027, perhaps NYCFC will wait to open the stadium in the summer.

Nevertheless, the Bronx and Queens team knows the locations for 14 of their 17 home matches.  Ten games will take place at Yankee Stadium, and four will occur at Citi Field.  Then, three games are TBD, for it will depend on whether the Yankees and Mets are in the MLB Playoffs.  For NYCFC’s sake, ideally, one team will not make it so none of the playoff matches are at Sports Illustrated Stadium or elsewhere.

Now, looking at the 2026 schedule, the Boys in Blue will begin the season on the road, playing their first two matches away from home for the fifth time since 2022, and continue the trend of playing on the road in the season opener since the inaugural season.

NYCFC will open 2026 away to the LA Galaxy on Sunday, February 22.  This will be an interesting game since LA struggled immensely in 2025, and the pressure will be on for the team to open up at home with a win.  Then, the second game of the season will be away to the Philadelphia Union on Sunday, March 1.  This will be a revenge fixture for one of the teams, for somebody is going home in the MLS Cup Playoffs when the two teams play on Sunday.

The home opener will take place on Saturday, March 7, and NYCFC will welcome Orlando City SC to Yankee Stadium, similar to last year.  Fans will remember that the match was part of the 10th anniversary celebration, and the Bronx side came out on top.  They will try to do the same thing to hopefully start a better campaign at home compared to 2025, in which the team had an 11-6-0 record.

Looking toward the end of the season, NYCFC will play the final home game on Saturday, October 31.  It will be a Halloween matchup against CF Montréal, who will hopefully not enter with a four-game winning streak by that time against the home side, for the Canadian side has won the last three fixtures.

Unlike this season, NYCFC will play the Decision Day match on the road.  The Pigeons will play against D.C. United on Saturday, November 7.  The schedule for the playoffs is unknown, but hopefully, they will not be fighting for a top-four spot and will already know that they will finish fourth or higher.

Additionally, the Pigeons will play 15 games before the World Cup break and 19 games when they return.  While some teams will resume play on July 16 and 17, the Bronx team will not play again until Wednesday, July 22, when they will be on the road against the Columbus Crew.

Currently, the schedule of the U.S. Open Cup and Leagues Cup is unknown, and whether the Boys in Blue will play in the tournaments as they did last year.  As such, it might be possible that there is a game during the break, including a home match.  That is unknown at this time.

Nevertheless, the busiest month at this time is October.  NYCFC will play six games, with three on the road and three at home.  A couple of matches that highlight October include a road fixture against Inter Miami CF and a home fixture against Los Angeles FC.

Fans always want to know when the Hudson River Derbies will take place.  This year, the first one will be on the road in New Jersey on Saturday, May 16.  The home derby will take place on Friday, September 18.  Interestingly, that will be one of three Friday games.  They will play seven fixtures on Wednesday and seven on Sunday, meaning that only half of the games will be on a Saturday.

Like last year, NYCFC will face each Eastern Conference team home and away, and six Western Conference teams once, splitting the matches between three home and three away fixtures.  The other teams include the Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake, St. Louis City SC, and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

Overall, the schedule is decent and fair.  The congestion is about the same despite the break for the World Cup. Of course, that can and likely will change once the other matches are revealed.  At the same time, it is difficult to pinpoint whether one month is more challenging, for some starters will need to be replaced based on injuries, and what the roster will look like is up in the air.  Still, fans can get excited for the 2026 season and the final late winter to late fall schedule.