MLS transfer window officially opens after seismic rule changes

Tom Weber

Updated: 26 Jan 2026 16:34 CST
4 min read

Rodrigo de Paul, Inter Miami, 2026 — © IMAGO

The primary Major League Soccer transfer window is now officially open.

Although clubs have been announcing deals for several weeks already, they have had to wait until 26 January to register players for the 2026 season. This will be the final full campaign before MLS's revolutionary calendar change.

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Last November, the league's Board of Governors approved a switch to the "European model" for 2027. The new format will see the MLS season kick off in the summer and finish in the spring instead of running from the start to the end of the calendar year.

In preparation for this seismic change, MLS announced several alterations to the transfer market last week. Unlike the calendar switch, these modifications are already in effect now that the primary transfer window has opened.

The most important decision has been to bring the league's two windows more in line with Europe. FIFA only allows a limited number of days to be spread out across two windows, so MLS has decided to shorten its primary window and extend its secondary window in the summer.

Major MLS transfer changes explained

The primary window now closes on 26 March, while the secondary window opens on 13 July and runs until 2 September. Therefore, MLS's primary window no longer remains open until late April.

This was a change MLS had been trying to make for years because keeping the window open this late was essentially a waste of the permitted FIFA dates. Signing players from Europe and most other areas of the world was virtually impossible.

Primary MLS transfer window	26 January - 26 March
Secondary MLS transfer window	13 July - 2 September

European transfer windows generally close in early February, so clubs were naturally reluctant to let players leave in April without being able to sign replacements.

MLS was finally able to modify the dates of the transfer windows because, due to the calendar change, it received special dispensation from FIFA to place the three Canadian teams under the jurisdiction of US Soccer. Canada Soccer previously rejected proposals to alter the dates.

The change is not only significant for the primary window, however. A longer secondary window in the summer will make MLS clubs more flexible and give them more agency in the market.

Receiving an offer that is too good to turn down late in the summer will no longer mean being left shorthanded for the remainder of the season. The change puts MLS franchises on equal footing with European clubs.

When Minnesota United received a club-record €8 million offer for Tani Oluwaseyi last summer, they were not in a position to reject it. However, because the MLS window had already closed, they were unable to bring in a replacement.

In addition to the date changes, the league has also scrapped its bizarre age limit for loans. It was previously impossible for players over the age of 24 to be loaned from one MLS club to another.

The third notable amendment is the elimination of the limit on intra-league cash trades. These deals were first trialled in 2025 and proved a resounding success.

© IMAGO - Dejan Joveljic became the first player to move between MLS clubs for cash when Sporting KC signed him from the LA Galaxy in 2025

As a result, MLS has lifted the two-in, two-out restriction, meaning that clubs can now sign and sell an unlimited number of players to other MLS clubs for cash instead of Allocation Money.

Clubs can spend whatever they want on "cashfers," but they are, of course, still bound by the league's salary cap. Nevertheless, this change has already made the internal market much more dynamic.

Inter Miami, for example, have attempted to build a veritable MLS superteam. Having already signed Goalkeeper of the Year Dayne St. Clair, the Herons made cash offers for Defender of the Year Tristan Blackmon and LAFC superstar Denis Bouanga this offseason. Both bids were rejected.

With the 2026 season kicking off on 21 February and the window open until 26 March, there are still bound to be plenty of exciting moves.

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