2026 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge brings the vibes, celebrity | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Did the 2026 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T just launch #MLSAfterDark into the sports mainstream?

If you’re reading this, you’re probably familiar with that hashtag. But for the uninitiated – that’s the online shorthand for the longstanding propensity of a certain sort of MLS match to turn riveting, chaotic or just downright weird. They tend to run just a bit later into the night than you’d like, though the entertainment factor often lures us to stay tuned in even at the cost of some morning grogginess.

Things got a little wacky on Tuesday evening at Truist Field, the charming minor-league baseball park under downtown Charlotte’s sweeping skyline that hosted this year’s Skills Challenge.

For that, we can give thanks to a wave of thunderstorms that forced a hefty weather delay, a spicy dash of some celebrity and online-influencer guest participants, and the usual light drama that makes this event such a delightful appetizer to Wednesday's MLS All-Star Game presented by Chime (8 pm ET | Apple TV).

“I said to a couple of guys that the stadium is beautiful, the background is even better. Just the weather was not so good today,” said FC Dallas’ Croatian striker Petar Musa afterwards. “But thank God we could finish it today.

“They put every year something different, they change, which makes it very interesting, especially when you're competing against LIGA MX.”

WATCH: Thomas Müller sets record in All-Star Shooting Challenge presented by AT&T

Where else can you find a global soccer icon like Thomas Müller mowing down Shooting Challenge presented by AT&T targets like a kid at the state fair, then mugging for the cameras afterward? Followed by rising actor Danny Ramírez – Hollywood’s next comic-book action hero, reputed new flame of Jessica Alba and former college soccer player – nearly upsetting Son Heung-Min in the Passing Challenge presented by Dawn?

“It's like coming back from where we were 12, 13, 14 in training and just kicking balls at one another,” joked Orlando City goalkeeper and Goalie Wars presented by Old Spice champion Maxime Crépeau to reporters afterward. “So it's literally this. It's fun.”

When lightning crackled nearby amid sheets of torrential rain, everyone’s patience got tested: The hardest part was “sitting around waiting,” according to eagle-eyed Passing Challenge presented by Dawn winner Tim Ream. But many of us waited out bad weather between those backyard kickarounds when we were kids, too.

For this international array of elite footballers, many of whom are fresh off the extreme emotions of a FIFA World Cup and soon to shift into Leagues Cup, LIGA MX and Audi MLS Cup Playoffs trophy-hunting mode, this night felt like something pure and easy.

“I think it's just fun for us because it's like, we live in a world of performance, performance, performance, day after day,” mused Crépeau, “and ‘what's the next game,’ and always increasing our levels and trying to get some wins.

“So this is, yes, a bit of a moment to showcase for fun, for fans, people who are coming in. But for us as well, just to enjoy. Yes, take it seriously, but in the meantime take it light as well, you know?”

The pros even got to turn the tables a bit here, offering some lighthearted critiques of their celebrity guests’ performance levels, which, to be fair, varied widely.

“They can try some challenges, challenges which are looking very easy from outside, but when you are there, it's not that easy,” grinned Musa. “So it's fun to also see them and meet them. … [From] what I see, they were really good, decent – can be better, but overall they were good.”

Noted Crépeau: “Mr. Ramirez was not that bad. I think he had something. He had something!”

Crépeau and his colleagues were also quick to note that those cameos by the likes of FaZe Rug, Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson – who also welcomed Zavier Gozo onto his podcast – and Céline Dept, a Belgian soccer content creator with nearly 66 million YouTube followers who kicks it with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Shakira and Zlatan Ibrahimović, can help push the sport into new places, and new hearts.

Which has been a hot topic of conversation in the wake of this summer’s biggest event.

“We talk about momentum, of the popularity of the sport, and coming off the back of the World Cup, and I think it's great,” said Ream. “Obviously there's a lot of social-media influence out there, we'll say, and that helps with bringing more recognition, more eyes, more fans, lots of different generations being in and paying attention to the sport. I think it can only be a good thing.”

And who knows what connections and future collabs might blossom from the casual conversations among the participants between challenges and cloudbursts?

“It's awesome,” said Gozo, who chatted with a few influencers but didn’t quite sound ready to dive into a livestreaming or TikTok side hustle just yet. “Celebrities in the U.S. are a big thing, and I think we'll get more and more people into soccer, so that’s a plus.”

WATCH: Tim Ream dominates All-Star Passing Challenge presented by Dawn