Published for LA Galaxy fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 23, 2026
💫 LA Galaxy Fans — Your Six-Star Legacy Is Rising Again!
Six stars on the chest, a 37-year-old maestro pulling the strings, and a Wild Card spot to protect. White shirts, full voice — wear the Galaxy colors like you mean it.
The Club
The LA Galaxy were founded on June 15, 1994, one of MLS’s ten charter clubs, and kicked off in the league’s first season in 1996 — the club’s 31st MLS season. Owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group, the Galaxy remain the standard-bearer in silverware: six MLS Cups, more than any other club. Checking the LA Galaxy roster or LA Galaxy schedule? This is the most successful club in MLS history, mid-rebuild and fighting for its playoff life.
Home is Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, on the Cal State Dominguez Hills campus south of downtown Los Angeles. The Galaxy have played there since 2003, after seven seasons at the Rose Bowl, and its 27,000 capacity makes it one of the largest soccer-specific stadiums in MLS. It staged the record sixth MLS Cup in 2024.
Through the storm, one thing has not changed: the head coach. Greg Vanney, who delivered MLS Cup 2024, is in his sixth season in charge and kept his job through the worst title defense in league history. There was no coaching change in 2026 — the club backed its coach, sold its biggest asset for a record fee, and bought proven winners. Whether that patience pays off will be decided in the next three weekends.
Is Riqui Puig playing? It is the question Galaxy fans type into Google every week — and the honest answer is the hard one: no. The franchise No. 10 has not played a minute in 2025 or 2026. This team now runs through Marco Reus, 37 and playing some of the best football of his American chapter, in the white No. 18 shirt.
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#18 Reus — LA Galaxy Style Jersey
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The Dortmund icon running the show in Carson. Eight goals, a team-best 12 assists and a new deal through 2027 — the fan-inspired No. 18 Reus style jersey is the shirt of the rebuild.
Last Season (2025): The Worst Title Defense in MLS History
Ten months after lifting a record sixth MLS Cup, the Galaxy produced the worst season MLS has ever seen from a defending champion: 14th in the West, 30 points from 34 matches (7W–9D–18L) — the fewest in club history — 66 goals conceded, and no playoffs. The rot started immediately: winless in the first ten matches, a run that stretched to 16 league games. The causes were structural: MLS Cup winner bonuses counted against the 2025 salary cap, forcing the club to trade away MLS Cup MVP Gastón Brugman, Mark Delgado, Jalen Neal and top scorer Dejan Joveljić. The replacements never gelled.
The cups offered the only light. The Galaxy reached the Campeones Cup final at home on October 1, 2025, twice leading Toluca — a Fagúndez penalty and a Gabriel Pec goal — before losing 3–2 in stoppage time, and finished third in the Leagues Cup, banking a 2026 Champions Cup berth. Joseph Paintsil top-scored with nine league goals, 14 in all competitions. And through it all loomed the biggest absence: Riqui Puig missed the entire season after tearing his ACL in the 2024 Western Conference Final — a match he finished.
Best Players Right Now
Marco Reus — #18, attacking midfielder. The 37-year-old Borussia Dortmund icon is the Galaxy’s 2026 catalyst: a team-best 20 goal contributions — eight goals and 12 assists — with eight of them arriving in his last seven matches. His 11th assist, against Portland on October 14, was a career high; he added another three days later.
João Klauss — #99, striker. The Designated Player signed from St. Louis in January owns a team-best nine league goals — in only around 14 appearances, after foot surgery cost him five months from mid-April to mid-September. Since returning he has scored in four of LA’s last five matches.
Joseph Paintsil — #28, winger. The 2025 top scorer remains LA’s most explosive outlet: five goals and five assists in an injury-interrupted 2026, and both of the Galaxy’s goals in this year’s California Clásico series. Just back from a thigh injury, the Ghanaian’s pace is the weapon every playoff rival will game-plan for. Under contract through December 2027.
Hirving “Chucky” Lozano — #11, left winger. The summer headline: the Mexico international, 76 caps, arrived on loan from San Diego FC on August 7 and took Gabriel Pec’s old No. 11 shirt. He scored against his parent club on August 29 and assisted against New England on September 5 before injury on Mexico duty sidelined him in mid-October. His loan runs to December 31, 2026, with a purchase option.
Kyōgo Furuhashi — #7, centre-forward. The Japan international signed from Birmingham City on July 21, 2026 — the third prong of the post-Pec rebuild. Still settling into MLS, his movement gives Vanney a different option through the middle for the run-in.
Sergi Roberto — central midfielder. The former Barcelona captain arrived on a free transfer on August 8 and has found his rhythm in the Galaxy midfield. He registered his first Galaxy assist on October 17, setting up Klauss’s opener against San Diego.
Star Spotlight
The assist that cost Puig two seasons. November 30, 2024, the Western Conference Final against Seattle: Puig tore his left ACL in the match — and played on for half an hour, delivering the assist that sent LA to the final they won without him. He missed all of 2025, returned to training in autumn 2025, then learned the graft had failed: a second reconstructive surgery in Barcelona in January 2026 ruled him out of 2026 as well. The Galaxy have now played two full seasons without their franchise No. 10; his return is targeted for the start of 2027.
The club-record sale and the Chucky rebuild. On July 7, 2026, the Galaxy sold Gabriel Pec — the electric winger of the 2024 title team, 43 goals and 28 assists in 101 appearances — to Cruzeiro for a club-record fee reported up to $13.5 million. Ten days later, LAFC routed the Pec-less Galaxy 3–0. The response was the busiest summer in club history: Kyōgo Furuhashi on July 21, Chucky Lozano on loan from rivals San Diego on August 7, and ex-Barcelona captain Sergi Roberto on August 8 — proven winners, bought for the playoff push.
Klauss, the comeback king. João Klauss returned on September 12 after five months out — and immediately started deciding games. His equalizer sparked the 3–2 comeback win at Minnesota on September 19, he equalized again in the 3–2 comeback over Colorado on September 26, he scored on an emotional return to St. Louis on October 11, and he struck again against San Diego on October 17: four goals in five matches. Reus added a goal and an assist in the 2–0 win over Portland on October 14.
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More Galaxy stars, same white and navy.
This Season (2026): The Wild Card Tightrope
The Galaxy sit eighth in the Western Conference on 40 points from 31 matches (10W–10D–11L), 43 scored and 52 conceded. Eighth place is a Wild Card spot, but it is not yet theirs. LA sit one point ahead of ninth-placed Colorado Rapids, who hold a game in hand, and four ahead of tenth-placed Real Salt Lake, also with a game in hand. Three matches remain: at LAFC, Austin at home, and Decision Day at Real Salt Lake. There is no margin for error.
The road here was jagged. The Champions Cup run ended in the quarterfinals against Toluca again, 7–2 on aggregate. There was no Leagues Cup — the 26th-place finish in 2025 left the Galaxy out of the 18-club field. The World Cup restart brought that 3–0 home defeat to LAFC. But September steadied everything: back-to-back comeback 3–2 wins over Minnesota and Colorado — LA’s first consecutive league wins all year — then a 2–0 win over Portland and a 2–2 draw with San Diego, bar a 6–2 collapse at St. Louis. The tightrope ends at the derby.
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Mark Your Calendar
Sunday, October 25, 2026 — at Los Angeles FC, BMO Stadium (6:00 p.m. PT). El Tráfico, the 28th edition: the Galaxy protect their Wild Card place while LAFC try to clinch their own playoff spot.
Saturday, October 31, 2026 — vs Austin FC, Dignity Health Sports Park (2:00 p.m. PT). The regular-season home finale — three points the Galaxy cannot afford to drop.
Saturday, November 7, 2026 — at Real Salt Lake, America First Field. Decision Day, and a direct Wild Card rival: RSL sit four points behind LA with a game in hand, a possible shootout for the last playoff places.
November 20 – December 2, 2026 — Round One, Best-of-3. As it stands, the Galaxy’s road runs through the Wild Card match on Wednesday, November 18 — eighth against ninth, winner facing the West’s top seed. Conference semifinals are December 5–6, conference finals December 11–12, and MLS Cup 2026 lands on Friday, December 18. Every match streams on Apple TV with MLS Season Pass.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Los Angeles FC — El Tráfico. MLS’s fiercest derby, born in 2018 when LAFC arrived across town — and the all-competitions series is dead level, 10 wins apiece, heading into the 28th meeting on October 25, 2026. The only 2026 meeting so far went badly: a 3–0 LAFC win in Carson on July 17, former Galaxy midfielder Mark Delgado opening the scoring before a Denis Bouanga penalty and a Son Heung-min strike. On October 25, LAFC can complete the season sweep and clinch their playoff spot — while the Galaxy fight to protect the Wild Card place that keeps their season alive.
2. San Jose Earthquakes — the California Clásico. The league’s original California feud, dating to 1996 and the rivalry of the 2001 MLS Cup final. The 2026 honors went to LA: the 105th Clásico finished 1–1 at Stanford Stadium on July 25 — Paintsil scoring early, Reid Roberts equalizing before 43,026 fans — and the Galaxy won the 106th, 1–0 at home on August 19, Paintsil again in the 79th minute, despite playing the whole second half with ten men after Lucas Sanabria’s red card. History, geography and genuine dislike: the Galaxy’s oldest enemy.
3. Seattle Sounders FC. The West’s other perennial power and the Galaxy’s most frequent playoff dance partner — 43 regular-season meetings deep, Seattle ahead 15 wins to LA’s 12 with 16 draws. In 2026 the Galaxy won in Seattle, Gabriel Pec and Matheus Nascimento scoring with Reus assisting the opener, and drew 1–1 in Carson on September 12, a Reus penalty answered late by Paul Arriola. It was also against Seattle that Puig tore his ACL in the 2024 Western Conference Final.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is LA Galaxy’s next game?
Sunday, October 25, 2026 — away to LAFC at BMO Stadium in the 28th El Tráfico, kicking off at 6:00 p.m. PT, with the Galaxy protecting their Wild Card place. After that: Austin FC at home on October 31, Decision Day at Real Salt Lake on November 7, and a possible Wild Card match on November 18.
Is Riqui Puig playing for LA Galaxy in 2026? And what about Marco Reus?
Puig — no. The Galaxy’s No. 10 underwent a second ACL reconstruction in January 2026 after the original graft failed; he has missed the whole of 2025 and 2026 and is expected back for the start of 2027. Reus — very much yes: the 37-year-old is LA’s best player this season, with eight goals and a team-best 12 assists, and has signed an extension through December 2027.
Where do LA Galaxy play, and how do fans get tickets?
At Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson — capacity 27,000 — the club’s home since 2003. Tickets are sold via the club at lagalaxy.com/tickets, and every match also streams live on Apple TV via MLS Season Pass.
How many MLS Cups have LA Galaxy won?
Six — an MLS record: 2002, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2024. The 2026 home shirt, the VeloCITY Kit, is the first to carry all six stars in the new even three-on-three alignment above the crest. The cabinet also holds four Supporters’ Shields, two U.S. Open Cups and the 2000 Concacaf Champions’ Cup.
⚽ LA Galaxy Fan Shop
The full Galaxy trio — Reus, Klauss and Paintsil in white and navy.
Sources & official links: LA Galaxy official site · MLS official site · LA Galaxy tickets
Six stars on the chest and a seventh to chase — white shirts, full voice, Carson.
