It’s peak summer in Austin, so when it comes to collegiate athletics in the Texas capital, events are at their yearly low. But in the professional sports scene, Austin is set to be at the epicenter of North American soccer.
Q2 Stadium, home of Austin FC, will host the 2025 Major League Soccer All-Star Game, welcoming the best players from both MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX on July 23. It is the fourth time in five years that the All-Star Game has been played against Liga MX. The only exception was in 2023, when the English club Arsenal defeated the MLS All-Stars 5-0.
This year’s MLS All-Star Game is the first professional all-star event hosted in Austin in the city’s history. The league announced Austin as its 2025 host in May 2024, committing to a weeklong celebration of soccer and culture in venues throughout the city. The festivities will culminate at Q2 Stadium with the Skills Challenge on July 22 and the All-Star match the following day.
“The 2025 MLS All-Star Game will shine a global spotlight on the high quality of the players in our league as well as the Austin community, Austin FC and Q2 Stadium,” Austin FC President Andy Loughnane said in a March 18 press release. “In selling out 100% of MLS home matches played across our venue’s history, it has proven to be one of North American soccer’s best match day atmospheres.”
To decide the roster, MLS used a combination of voting (12 players) and selections by the All-Star team coach (12 players), along with two players chosen by commissioner Don Garber.
Voting was broken down into three groups — fans, players and media — with each representing one-third of the total vote.
Austin FC had no players picked through the vote. But with Nico Estévez leading the MLS team as the hosting head coach, the Verde and Black will have two representatives on the roster through coach’s selection: goalkeeper Brad Stuver and forward Brandon Vázquez.
Stuver has been with Austin since 2021 and has made over 150 appearances for the club. In 20 MLS matches this season, Stuver has garnered seven clean sheets, tied for the second-most among goalkeepers, and 67 saves, tied for the third-most in the league. In his first All-Star campaign, Stuver is putting together another respectable season after leading MLS in saves the past two seasons.
Vázquez, on the other hand, is in his first season with Austin but is making his second All-Star team. After spending a season in Liga MX with Monterrey, Vázquez returned to MLS this year and joined Austin FC for a club record transfer fee of $10 million. He was in MLS from 2017 to 2023 with Atlanta United (2017-19) and FC Cincinnati (2020-23).
In 19 MLS appearances this season, Vázquez has only tallied five goals within 23 on-target scoring attempts. His expected goals sit at close to double what he has. While Vázquez is Austin FC’s leading scorer, the Verde and Black, currently ninth in the Western Conference, have only netted 15 goals so far, the fewest in MLS.
Vázquez earning an All-Star spot courtesy of his coach sparked some controversy in MLS circles, especially because league goal leader Sam Surridge of Nashville SC, who has 16 goals, was left out. Estévez defended his pick and his player.
“In the case of Brandon, it’s a player that has scored the most goals for us,” Estévez said via a June 27 MLS Multiplex article. “He has played in Liga MX. He can give us some insight about some players there, and I think it’s good to have someone like him from our team in front of our fans.”
The 2025 edition of the MLS All-Star Game is only the second time it’s being hosted in the Lone Star State. Austin will look to make the rest of the nation notice just how strong its soccer fandom is.
