MLS emerges from its World Cup break with new high-profile stars and a new marketing campaign

Major League Soccer is back after its six-week break for the World Cup.

A few things have changed since the league went on hiatus, most notably the arrival of a pair of high-profile international stars and a new campaign that hopes to capitalize on the World Cup to entice new soccer fans to the league.

Robert Lewandowski joined the Chicago Fire in late June, signing a deal that will keep the Polish striker with the club through the 2027-28 season.

French forward Antoine Griezmann agreed to terms with Orlando City in March but didn't join the team until last week after finishing up the season with Atletico Madrid.

"I saw that already the team has developed a lot over the last few months. If you compare this season and the last season, it’s also the next step. So I see that they’re doing a great job,” Lewandowski said about joining the Fire. “I hope that I can help my teammates, my new colleagues, and play better to win more games. And in the end, I know that all together, we can achieve our goals and always, when I start to play with a new club, always in front of me is to win some titles.”

Lewandowski, 37, comes to Chicago from Barcelona, where he scored 83 goals in 134 appearances since joining the Spanish club in July 2022. Barcelona won three La Liga titles during his time with the team.

Before that, he played eight years with Bayern Munich during which the club won eight Bundesliga championships and a Champions League title.

He is Poland's all-time leading scorer with 89 goals. He earned FIFA best player awards in 2020 and 2021.

“The point is, this is a massive signing for our football club," Fire coach Gregg Berhalter said. “We’re excited to see and to bring Robert to the club. We’re excited to see how he can change the culture."

The Fire are playing their second season under Berhalter and have improved steadily. Chicago won just seven games and finished last in the league's Eastern Conference in 2024. The team more than doubled its wins the next year to finish the regular season in eighth, and is currently ranked third on the conference table.

Griezmann, 35, played on the French team that won the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He retired from the national team in 2024, finishing with 44 goals in 137 caps.

Atletico's all-time leading scorer with 211 goals in two stints with the club, Griezmann signed with Orlando through the 2027-28 season, with an option for another year.

In Griezmann's first appearance with the Lions, a 6-0 friendly victory over the USL Championship's Tampa Bay Rowdies last week, he had a goal and an assist.

“The group has been fantastic. The players are very talented and have great character,” Griezmann said. “They’ve welcomed me incredibly well. I already feel at home.”

MLS launched an ambitious post-World Cup marketing campaign this week: “Thanks World, We’ll Take It From Here."

While the U.S. didn’t advance as far in the tournament as some had hoped, MLS Commissioner Don Garber pointed Thursday to the international players in the tournament who play in the league.

“All of our teams have been preparing for this for eight years, both in terms of the fan-development perspective, thinking about what kind of product we want to have in the years to come,” Garber said during an event in New York. “Obviously, there’s marketing programs and marketing efforts, this whole idea of MLS is back. It’s no coincidence that Robert Lewandowski is coming in right after the World Cup. Antoine’s coming in. After the World Cup, we’re going to welcome back 45 World Cup players into our stadiums and tell the world that if you love the World Cup, come to an MLS game and you’re going to love it even more.”

U.S. Soccer Federation President Cindy Parlow Cone also attended the event in New York but said she would not discuss the U.S. performance at the World Cup.

Twenty-two of the league's 30 teams are introducing a “First Match On Us” initiative that provides free tickets to potential fans who have never attended a match.

The league resumed its season Thursday with four matches, including a Cascadia Cup rivalry game between the visiting Portland Timbers and the Seattle Sounders. On Friday, the marquee matchup is El Tráfico between LAFC and the LA Galaxy. A match between the Whitecaps and the Fire, which was expected to be Lewandowski's debut, was postponed because of poor air quality in Chicago caused by smoke from wildfires in Canada.

AP Sports Writer Ron Blum in New York contributed to this report.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer