As we wait for the resumption of the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs and the highest-stakes Hudson River Derby to date, what better time than now to review New York City FC's full history in the MLS postseason?
The club made the playoffs in eight of their 10 seasons in existence, winning the whole tournament and a first MLS Cup in 2021, but it wasn't always a great experience watching NYCFC try its hand at postseason soccer.
For the first six years of New York City FC's existence, the club was a disaster when the MLS Cup Playoffs rolled around. The team started playing in 2015 but didn't get a playoff win until 2017, under then-head coach Patrick Vieira, and didn't advance through a round until 2018, under Domé Torrent. Those two head coaches might have turned NYCFC into perennial contenders during the regular season, but they combined for two playoff wins and six losses in four years.
NYCFC Overall Playoff Record
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 26 | 29 | -3 |
The club's direction changed in 2021 when NYCFC went on an improbable run to win the title. The club advanced to the Eastern Conference Final in 2022, and find themselves back in the hunt this year after missing the postseason in 2023.
New York City's overall playoff record might not exactly be spectacular, but it's solid, and reflects the ambitions of a team that aims to be competitive every season.
NYCFC Playoff Record by Series
| Series Played | Advanced | Knocked Out |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | 8 | 6 |
Put simply, the team are better at winning playoff games under Ronny Deila and Nick Cushing than they were under Vieira and Torrent.
Deila didn't lose a playoff game in his two postseasons — although he drew three times, advancing twice in penalty kicks and getting knocked out once in farcical fashion in 2020. (More on that below.) For his part, Cushing has the best playoff record of any New York City coach, with the most games played (6), most wins (3), most goals scored (10), highest goal differential (+4), and highest winning percentage (50%).
NYCFC Playoff Record by Head Coach
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Kreis | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Patrick Vieira | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 11 | -8 | 25.0% |
| Domé Torrent | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 25.0% |
| Ronny Deila | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 40.0% |
| Nick Cushing | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 50.0% |
| Total | 19 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 26 | 29 | -3 | 36.8% |
Even more impressive, Deila and Cushing assembled these records while playing a majority of their matches on the road. Deila was at home for just one game out of five, while Cushing was at home for two games out of six. Both are undefeated when playing in New York City, combining for three wins out of three and an aggregate score of 8-1.
NYCFC Playoff Record by Host
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 10 | 4 |
| Away | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 19 | -7 |
Not only is Cushing a perfect 2-0-0 at home, both of those games were at Citi Field. A new chapter in New York City's playoff history will be written on Saturday when Cushing will once again be on the sideline at Citi Field. Until then, read on to remind yourself of the club's checkered past — and improving fortunes.
2015: New team, no playoffs
New York City finished their inaugural season in Eighth Place in the Eastern Conference table, two places off the playoffs. They were a full 12 points behind Toronto FC in Sixth Place: That insurmountable gap was due in large part to the 11-match winless streak that followed NYCFC's first-ever win in their second-ever match. Chalk it up to expansion season growing pains, or maybe a miscalculation in picking Jason Kreis as the team's first Head Coach — he wouldn't return for the 2016 season.
2016: Rude playoff welcome
A new-look team led by new Head Coach Patrick Vieira and 2016 MLS MVP David Villa, NYCFC finished the year in Second Place in the Eastern Conference and qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time, increasing their regular-season point total from 37 in 2015 to 54 in 2016.
The regular season improvement was drastic, but the club's first taste of playoff soccer in the Eastern Conference Semifinals was disastrous. Toronto FC, which finished one point behind New York City that season, won the two-legged series by a combined aggregate score of 7-0.
NYCFC played TFC to a scoreless draw for 83 minutes in the first leg at BMO Field in Toronto, but it all went wrong for New York City from then on as they conceded two crushing late goals and returned home down 2-0 on aggregate. The first home playoff match in club history still stands as their worst-ever loss in the MLS Cup Playoffs, with Toronto's diminutive Italian Designated Player Sebastian Giovinco scoring his second hat trick against NYCFC at Yankee Stadium in two seasons as part of a 5-0 demolition of Vieira's team.
NYCFC Playoff Record | 2016
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | -7 |
2017: A baby step
In 2017, New York City followed a similar playoff script to what unfolded in 2016: They opened a two-legged series on the road and hung with a tough opponent, until they again collapsed late and had to dig themselves an aggregate hole.
This year it was against Gregg Berhalter's Columbus Crew, and there were a few key differences with the Toronto series. Namely that NYCFC fell behind almost instantly, with Ola Kamara giving the Crew a sixth-minute lead in the opening game, and that the team was undone by a costly individual mistake. NYCFC's stalwart defender Alexander Callens, who had played every single available MLS minute for the team that season, got sent off with a straight red card in the 52nd minute with the Crew still leading 1-0. That set in motion a meltdown from Vieira's team while playing down a man, and they would ultimately lose 4-1 and head back to Yankee Stadium needing a 3-0 win to advance.
They did win their first-ever game in the MLS Cup Playoffs in the return leg in the Bronx, but only by a 2-0 scoreline, so the playoffs once again began and ended for NYCFC with two frustrating games played in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
NYCFC Playoff Record | 2017
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 |
2018: A series win at last
Domé Torrent was in charge come playoff time in 2018 following Patrick Vieira's decision to up and split at midseason to manage OGC Nice in his native France. After finishing in Second Place in the Eastern Conference for two straight seasons, this 2018 NYCFC team slipped to Third Place, far behind that season's top two Eastern teams, the Supporters' Shield-winning Red Bulls and the eventual MLS Cup-winning Atlanta United FC.
Third Place meant a first-ever appearance for NYCFC in the single-elimination Knockout Round that used to open the MLS Cup Playoffs. New York City finally clinched a series win by coming out ahead in a single home game against the Philadelphia Union, a 3-1 victory at Yankee Stadium on Halloween night. Weirdly, these same two teams played at the exact same venue three days before the playoff match to close out the MLS regular season — and NYCFC also won that game 3-1.
The high of playoff advancement didn't last long, as next up: Atlanta United in a two-leg series. As mentioned above, Atlanta won MLS Cup that year, and NYCFC were unable to earn a win in either leg of the series, falling 0-1 at home in the Bronx before being eliminated 3-1 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium via a brace from 2018 MLS MVP Josef Martínez, and another goal from eventual Premier League staple Miguel Almiron.
NYCFC Playoff Record | 2018
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -1 |
2019: Woulda, coulda, shoulda
That 2018 playoff exit was far lower on the "fan pain meter" than what was to come for New York City in the 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs.
The 2019 team still stands out as the best-ever NYCFC squad when judged solely on MLS regular season performance. Their 64 points were good enough for First Place in the Eastern Conference, though that was eight points off the Supporters' Shield pace set by Los Angeles FC. All those points did was earn New York City a bye to the Eastern Conference Semifinals and home-field advantage for a single elimination game against 2016 playoff nemesis Toronto FC.
This was the first season that featured only win-or-go-home elimination games across each round of the MLS Cup Playoffs, and NYCFC became the poster child for how unforgiving that format can be.
In the only match New York City played in Queens at Citi Field that season, the vibe for this Eastern Conference Semifinal started anticipatory and excited but turned sour, with Toronto grabbing a lead through an Alejandro Pozuelo goal shortly after halftime. Ismael Tajouri-Shradi equalized in the 69th minute for New York City and the match seemed to be heading for a tense session of extra time – until Ronald Matarrita made the wrong kind of NYCFC playoff history.
That run of play, that foul in the box, that final score of 1-2. Still tough to digest five seasons later.
NYCFC Playoff Record | 2019
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 |
2020: Shootout disaster
The crushing defeat that ended 2019 ushered in a wave of big changes to NYCFC, with Dome Torrent and Sporting Director Claudio Reyna both departing the club. Ahead of 2020, new and current Sporting Director David Lee brought over Ronny Deila to become the team's new Head Coach, but the Covid-19 pandemic descended right around the time that season began, creating a disjointed schedule that involved the MLS Is Back bubble tournament and a compressed summer-and-fall schedule of matches played largely without any or many fans in attendance.
New York City did enough to finish in Fifth Place in the Eastern Conference, picking up 1.70 points per match in their 23 regular season games to set up a first-ever playoff meeting with 2015 expansion stepsibling Orlando City SC. That match in the heat and humidity of Central Florida was a tightly contested grind, with each team scoring inside the match's first 10 minutes and then not again for the next 110.
This match is best remembered for the absurd penalty shootout that followed the 1-1 draw. Orlando had their goalkeeper sent off for earning a second yellow card for encroachment during the shootout, with Pedro Gallese making a save that appeared to hand Orlando the win (and kicked off premature celebrations) – until VAR deemed he left his line early, and he got doubly punished with a sending off.
Then Orlando wasn't allowed to sub on its backup goalkeeper, so defender Rodrigo Schlegel was forced into goal – and NYCFC couldn't beat an outfield player who looked monumentally uncomfortable in goal, a humiliating end to another early playoff exit. This felt like a new rock bottom across a five-year streak of playoff futility.
NYCFC Playoff Record | 2020
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
2021: MLS Cup, baby
The team that had developed a reputation for frustrating the fans in the playoffs erased all the bad vibes by ripping off an unexpected run to an MLS Cup win while playing as the No 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The vibes were especially bad around NYCFC shortly before that year's playoffs thanks to a stretch from August through the middle of October that saw Ronny Deila's team collect just 14 points from 14 games (3W-5D-6L), leading to a loud and growing "Ronny Out" chorus.
Everything seemed to flip with that 1-1 draw away to Atlanta United FC earned thanks to Icelandic fullback Gudmundur Thorarinsson's 90th-minute free-kick goal. That set off a nine-match unbeaten run for New York City that would eventually include a playoffs-opening win over Atlanta at Yankee Stadium, followed by a historic road upset of New England Revolution, Supporters' Shield winners and MLS points record-setters that season.
The win in New England required 120 minutes and a penalty shootout and still stands as a historic MLS Cup Playoffs upset, and also the first time New York City had cracked the code and advanced beyond the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The first silverware in club history was then earned at Subaru Park when a Taty Castellanos-less NYCFC defeated the Philadelphia Union to become champions of the Eastern Conference. The real prize required a win in the MLS Cup Final in rainy Portland, which NYCFC got, but not after flirting with yet another playoff crusher thanks to that 94th-minute Portland equalizer. Instead, that was just another punch the 2021 team absorbed en route to MLS Cup glory.
Oliver Strand
NYCFC Playoff Record | 2021
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 2 |
2022: 26 Minutes from glory
Ronny Deila and Golden Boot-winning striker Taty Castellanos left at midseason, and interim head coach Nick Cushing watched his team suffer through a calamitous post-Taty slump, going 1W-2D-7L in the 10 matches immediately following Castellanos's departure for Girona FC.
The 2022 season got back on track thanks to a September formation change and an end-of-season winning streak that began with a home victory in the Hudson River Derby against Gerhard Struber's Red Bulls. That was the first of three consecutive wins to close out the MLS regular season, and the momentum would continue come the MLS Cup Playoffs, which NYCFC opened with a comprehensive 3-0 dismantling of Inter Miami CF at a raucous Citi Field. They followed that up by winning their Eastern Conference Semifinal for a second straight season, this time a 1-3 road upset of Wilfried Nancy's CF Montréal.
Oliver Strand
Dreams of a repeat as MLS Cup winners died in Philadelphia in a rematch of the 2021 Eastern Conference Final. That 2022 Union team finished in First Place in the Eastern Conference, 12 points ahead of NYCFC, but New York City still grabbed a second-half lead through a 57th-minute Maxi Moralez goal.
Things fell apart for NYCFC in the final half-hour at Subaru Park, with the floodgates opening once Julián Carranza equalized in the 65th minute. The Union won 3-1 and advanced to MLS Cup (which they lost), but for 64 minutes, NYCFC looked like they might repeat the title-winning script they wrote in 2021.
NYCFC Playoff Record | 2022
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
2023: Below the line
For just the second time in club history, New York City failed to make the playoffs. They finished in 11th Place with 41 points, two points behind Charlotte FC in 9th Place: Had NYCFC turned one draw into a win they would have finished above Charlotte on goal differential and advanced to the postseason.
Oliver Strand
2024: History in the making?
There's already been some history made by New York City this postseason: They became the first road team to win a decisive Game 3 in the new best-of-three Round One of the MLS Cup Playoffs by beating FC Cincinnati in a 2020-vs-Orlando-esque penalty shootout at TQL Stadium.
Now a next potential piece of history awaits in the form of a first-ever playoff Hudson River Derby against the Red Bulls.
There's also the historic nature of a Sixth Place team (possibly) making a run to win MLS Cup: Since MLS expanded its playoffs to include five or more qualifying teams (the 2011 season, specifically), no team that finished at or lower than Fifth Place in its conference has won MLS Cup.
To put this trend another way, 26 teams have reached the MLS Cup Final since the 2011 season, but only three clubs to finish outside the Top 3 spots in their respective conference have won MLS Cup in that time: 2012 LA Galaxy (Fourth Place in the Western Conference), 2016 Seattle Sounders FC (Fourth Place in the Western Conference), and 2021 New York City FC (Fourth Place in the Eastern Conference).
NYCFC will be defying the odds if they manage to make it back to MLS Cup this season, as the lowest-seeded team to even qualify for the league's championship match since 2011 was a 2018 Portland Timbers side coached by Giovanni Saverese that finished in Fifth Place in the Western Conference – and ultimately lost the cup to Atlanta United.
NYCFC Playoff Record | 2024*
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
* Through Round One
