Supporters' Shield to be awarded in 2020 following reversal of decision

The Supporters' Shield Foundation reversed its decision to not award the Supporters' Shield to the best team in the 2020 Major League Soccer regular season following backlash from fans and prominent MLS personalities, it announced Friday.

The foundation, which is appointed by the Independent Supporters Council to oversee the annual awarding of the prize, controversially announced last Sunday that it wouldn't recognize the MLS team that finishes atop the overall standings. The reasons cited were the unbalanced schedule caused by the coronavirus pandemic and lack of supporters in the stands.

In Friday's statement, the Supporters' Shield Foundation said it subsequently listened to fans in the intervening days and therefore reneged on its decision to not award silverware that "has been designed, funded, and overseen by the supporters."

Toronto FC head coach Greg Vanney was among some MLS figures who spoke out after the initial call to withhold the Supporters' Shield for a year.

"It's childish and a symbol that they don't know how sports operates," Vanney said.

Now, the Supporters' Shield is back within the reach of TFC and a few other high-flying MLS outfits.

"I think it's the right thing," Vanney said Friday. "I applaud them again for being open-minded and bringing it back to the equation, and for us it's a goal of ours and so we're working to try and achieve it.

"But there's three, four, five teams that are still within reach, and so there's still a lot of work to be done. But we're excited about the prospect, as I'm sure other teams are in the league, that there's an opportunity to lift a trophy at the end of the regular season."

Top six overall records in MLS:

Clubs play a maximum of 23 matches in the 2020 MLS campaign. There were 34 games planned for each team this season before the coronavirus pandemic forced a revision to the schedule.