LAFC Unified Team vs. Portland Timbers Unified Team
Saturday, August 22 | 9:45 p.m. PT (following the MLS match)
🏟 | BMO Stadium - Los Angeles, CA
🖥 | WATCH: LAFC Youtube
Moments after the final whistle of LAFC’s MLS regular-season match against the Portland Timbers on Saturday night, two new teams will take the field to kick off a new game.
The hour will be late - around 9:45 p.m. - but the energy will be high when the Black & Gold’s Special Olympics Unified Team squares off against the Portland Timbers’ Unified Team. Their uniforms will be exactly like those worn by the professionals who just walked off the pitch. Their objective will also be the same: to compete to the best of their abilities on behalf of their teammates and the crest on their kits.
MLS Unified Soccer, which began in 2013 and whose foundation of social inclusion is aligned with the league's Soccer For All platform, unites individuals with intellectual disabilities (Special Olympics athletes) with individuals without intellectual disabilities (Unified partners) as members of one team. A team that plays unified.
Spectators, and those watching Saturday's livestream on the LAFC YouTube page, are encouraged to discard any outdated ideas they might have about what Special Olympics competition is and isn’t. Saturday’s Unified match will feature college players and former high school stars playing alongside Special Olympics athletes so skilled that it’s impossible to discern who has an intellectual disability and who doesn’t. And that’s the point.
“When the match begins, or when one of our training sessions gets started, any barriers and labels that separate the players dissolve,” said Chelsey Oeffler, LAFC’s Sr. Director of Community Relations and Player Programs. “Everyone is welcome. Everyone is embraced for who they are. Our coaches like to joke that the only thing that can exclude you from our team is if you don’t love soccer.”
LAFC’s Unified Team, which is supported by BMO and Special Olympics Southern California, consists of 22 players, half of whom have an intellectual disability and half who do not. Games are 11-v-11, with six athletes on the pitch for each team, along with five partners. Players range in age from 17 to 30. The Black & Gold roster includes four women, several former high school standouts, and at least five players who currently compete or have competed at the collegiate level. Together, these partners and athletes travel across the U.S. and Canada for competitive matches scheduled in conjunction with MLS first-team matches, to reinforce inclusivity and showcase players’ talents and teamwork in front of MLS fans. MLS clubs provide authentic MLS first-team experiences such as signing days, jersey launches, practices, scrimmages, MLS matchday recognition, and in-person interactions with MLS first-team players. Unified teams are outfitted in authentic uniforms provided by adidas.
When the LAFC Unified Team traveled to Nashville in May to play Nashville SC’s Unified Team, LAFC Unified players strolled through the city with Son-Heung Min, Denis Bouanga, Hugo Lloris, and their LAFC teammates. Two LAFC Unified players, athlete Manny Zambrano and partner Penelope Yado, flew to Charlotte, NC, in July to represent the club in the MLS Unified All-Star Game.
The program is more than a feel-good photo op. After two seasons of steady growth, the 2026 LAFC Unified Team has a record of 7W-0L-1D in all competitions, including three El Trafico matches against the Galaxy Unified Team, a scrimmage against a local high school squad, and two friendlies with LAFC’s famous supporters group, The 3252.
“This has been an incredible experience,” said Zion Jung, 25, a former UPSL player and current USC Dentistry student in his first season with LAFC Unified. “I came into the season simply expecting to have fun, and I definitely have. But what has made this experience truly special are the relationships we’ve built and the memories we’ve created together. Those are the things I’ll carry with me long after the season ends.”
Portland’s Unified Team is taking its first ever road trip this weekend, arriving in LA on Friday and heading to the beach to hang out with the LAFC Unified Team on the eve of the big match. Saturday night at BMO Stadium, the two Unified teams will sit together and watch LAFC (third in the Western Conference) take on its longtime rivals the Timbers (ninth) in a match with MLS Cup Playoff implications. Afterward, the Unified teams will head to their respective locker rooms, put on their black and green kits, and take the pitch under bright stadium lights to put on a show of their own.
“This is our last game of the year,” said Zambrano, LAFC’s All-Star athlete and co-captain. “We want to honor everything we’ve done together, all the progress we have made on the field and off, by finishing strong.”
The LAFC Unified Team vs. Portland Unified Team match is scheduled to kick off at approximately 9:45 p.m. PT on Saturday, August 22, at BMO Stadium. The match will be streamed live (and available to watch later) at youtube.com/LAFC.
