California is about to get its fourth Major League Soccer team.
MLS on Thursday announced plans to expand its league once again, adding a 30th team to San Diego. The team first reported this London Times, will be owned by British-Egyptian billionaire and Conservative Party treasurer Mohamed Mansour. He is reportedly ready to buy the franchise for $500 million.
The club is owned by the Mansoor and Sequan bands of the Kumey Nation, an Indigenous American tribe that has lived in the San Diego area for more than 12,000 years. San Diego Padres star Manny Machado will also have an ownership stake. Total investment in the organization could exceed $700 million.
“We are thrilled to welcome San Diego to Major League Soccer as our 30th team,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in a statement. “For many years we have assumed that San Diego would be a terrible MLS's The market is known for its youthful energy, great diversity, and the fact that for so many people, football is an essential part of everyday life. Mohamed Mansour and Saiquan Tribe have an incredible vision to create a club that will inspire and unite football fans throughout the city and region.”
The club will enter the league for the 2025 season. The move would bring Mansour closer to buying a soccer club in England. He currently owns a Danish Superliga team, and has “definitely” had an English team on his radar in recent years. As per reports, the 75-year-old's net worth is around $3.6 billion.
The city of San Diego already has two professional soccer clubs. The San Diego Wave is one of the newest clubs in the National Women's Soccer League, and the San Diego Loyals compete in the USL. That franchise is coached by former USMNT star Landon Donovan.
San Diego's new team will play at Snapdragon Stadium, which opened last year and currently hosts SDSU's soccer team, a Major League Rugby team, and the Wave.
MLS has expanded significantly in recent years. Inter Miami CF and Nashville SC both entered the league in 2020. Austin, Charlotte and St. Louis followed in later years. St. Louis City SC was the 29th team in the league and began play this season. This was the ninth new team added to the league after 2019.
Garber said earlier this year that the league would announce plans for a 30th team “by the end of the year”. San Diego was a finalist along with Las Vegas. It's unclear whether MLS will seek to expand past 30 teams — which also brings it in line with the NBA and MLB.
“We never say nothing, because you know, our plans evolve as the market evolves. We never thought we'd be 24, we never thought we'd be 26. Will be,” Garber told ESPN on Thursday.
,[But] I don't think sitting here today we have any plans to go beyond 30 teams in the near future. We have a lot of work to do in the coming years, especially 2026, to build the league to capture the opportunity that we all see in front of us, but who knows what the future looks like after that, but the near future. I'm not sure of anything.”