Few Brazilians understand Major League Soccer from the inside the way Luiz Muzzi does.
For more than 30 years, he has watched the league evolve from a fragile experiment to a global-facing competition that exports players, attracts international investment, and now shapes the talent pipeline of American soccer.
His résumé spans every phase of that transformation: early league construction, front-office roles in multi-club ownership projects, a key leadership stint at FC Dallas, and seven seasons running Orlando City, where he won the U.S. Open Cup and helped turn the club’s academy into a national reference.
Watch Luiz Muzzi's interview with English subtitles (Territorio MLS / YouTube)
Now, fresh from his Orlando tenure, Muzzi is listening to proposals from MLS clubs, South American and European clubs, and even international federations. But he is clear about where his expertise naturally fits: "My Soccer bread-and-butter is in North and South America."
In a conversation with Territorio MLS, Muzzi is analytical and understated, offering an insider’s view of how MLS has grown — not through isolated big moments, but through layers of long-term planning, technical consistency, and infrastructure investments that took decades to mature.
The Experimental Era
When Muzzi arrived in the United States, MLS was still an idea being tested. The league was assembling clubs, designing rules, and trying to capture attention in a sports landscape dominated by the NFL, NBA, and MLB. Money was scarce, infrastructure even more so, and the entire enterprise felt temporary.
MLS did not allow draws; instead, it decided matches with dribble-up shootouts borrowed from hockey. Clubs operated without proper academies. Stadiums were shared with American football teams. And a lawsuit in the late 1990s nearly brought the league to its knees.
Only three ownership groups kept MLS alive during that period: the Hunts (FC Dallas), AEG (LA Galaxy), and Robert Kraft (New England Revolution). Muzzi remembers those years as fragile, but foundational — a moment when the league learned resilience by necessity.
The inflection point came in 2007, when David Beckham’s arrival reshaped MLS’s global profile. It brought attention, sponsors, and credibility. But Muzzi argues that the more profound shift happened off-camera: clubs quietly investing in facilities, academies, analytics departments, and full-time sporting staff.
By the early 2010s, MLS had moved from an identity crisis into a period of sustained, deliberate growth.
A New Infrastructure, A New Player Pathway
The transformation of the league’s youth development may be its most important accomplishment. For years, MLS clubs relied almost entirely on college soccer and the MLS SuperDraft for domestic talent. Kids developed outside club environments, with little continuity or competitive consistency.
The introduction of fully funded academies permanently changed the pipeline. From those systems came Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Ricardo Pepi, Brenden Aaronson, and dozens more. The shift improved national teams, created an export market, and built a model that mirrored Europe's developmental realities.
As a sporting director, Muzzi saw the subtler impacts. Players learned English, adapted to extended travel, faced diverse tactical demands, and became more mature professionals before heading abroad.
“They arrive in Europe more prepared,” he often notes privately — but in this narrative, the quote stands as context rather than centerpiece.
The reverse flow also grew. Brazilian and Argentine clubs now scout MLS regularly. Transfer fees rise each year. The league is no longer seen as a final destination, but as a platform for players, coaches, and executives.
Muzzi’s Orlando City: Rebuilding and Repositioning
When Muzzi joined Orlando City in 2019, he inherited instability, limited structure, and a team struggling to build a defined identity. What followed was methodical reconstruction.
The first year was an assessment. After that came targeted signings, investment in the academy, and a complete modernization of the sporting department. From 2020 to 2025, Orlando achieved what no other MLS club managed: a playoff berth every season. In 2022, it won the U.S. Open Cup. Meanwhile, the club’s academy grew into one of the country’s most respected, producing names like Alex Freeman and attracting global interest.
For Muzzi, the achievement was less about immediate results and more about building a system that would last beyond him — a model of sustainable front-office leadership. The club’s scouting network expanded throughout South America, with personnel stationed in Brazil and Argentina and a deliberate focus on the continent’s strongest markets. MLS Next Pro filled a critical development gap by giving young players an intermediate platform between the academy and the first team.
The success was cumulative. Orlando became, in his view, “one of the best academies in the U.S.” — and many in the league would agree.
The Level of MLS in 2025
Ask Muzzi how MLS stacks up internationally, and he is blunt: the league’s best teams hold their own in global competition. MLS clubs are not overwhelmed in Concacaf play and are increasingly competitive against Liga MX, which historically dominated continental tournaments. Cultural differences — intensity, gamesmanship, the Libertadores mentality — still matter, but the technical gap is smaller than ever.
He is even more direct when comparing MLS to other leagues:
Put the top MLS teams in Brazil or Spain, he argues, and they do not embarrass themselves. They compete. And they would not be relegated in Brazil.
The resistance to MLS as a “serious” league, he suggests, comes mostly from people who do not watch it.
Rules, Culture and the Eternal Relegation Debate,
Muzzi is pragmatic about the league’s structural model. Relegation is not part of North American sports culture, and introducing it would fundamentally change the league’s economic stability — stability that allowed MLS to survive when it had no business surviving.
Instead, parity ensures competitive diversity: Vancouver reaching a final, San Diego bursting onto the scene in year one, and Columbus reshaping itself through thoughtful sporting planning. In Muzzi’s view, that parity is an asset, not a flaw.
The Salary Cap should evolve, he believes, but responsibly. Spending freedom cannot compromise the financial health of smaller clubs.
This balance — growth without recklessness — defines MLS’s identity more than any individual rule.
A League Still Rising
With the league preparing to switch to an August–May calendar in 2027, MLS is aligning with global football rhythms. The change will improve transfer negotiations, national team windows, and the Concacaf Champions Cup’s competitive level. It is part of a broader trend: MLS is increasingly integrated with the global game, not operating at its margins.
As Muzzi weighs his next step — MLS, Europe, federations — one message stands out from his three decades of experience: MLS did not grow by accident. It grew because people with long-term vision funded its hardest years, built its infrastructure, and insisted on a stable model.
And because of that foundation, Muzzi believes one thing with certainty:
MLS has not reached its peak. It is only beginning its most ambitious phase.
