Lionel Messi, Son Heung-Min and Thomas Müller are all on the 29-player roster for the MLS All-Star Game at Bank of America Stadium on Wednesday night. So are Tim Ream, Pep Biel and Ashley Westwood, the first Charlotte FC players ever named to one.
Kickoff is 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 29, against a team of Liga MX All-Stars. It is the first All-Star Game played at Bank of America Stadium, and it streams on MLS on Apple TV in English, Spanish and French.
The Charlotte three
Ream, who also captains the United States men's national team, was voted onto the roster by fans and media. Biel and Westwood were named as Coach's Selections by Charlotte FC head coach Dean Smith, who as the host club's manager was handed the job of filling out the rest of the team.
Smith said he picked on form. "I picked two of what I felt were our best players or best performing players in the first 15 games of the season: Ashley Westwood and Pep Biel," he told reporters on Friday, July 10. "Both deserving of the accolade of becoming an all-star."
Biel has been the club's most productive attacking midfielder, with five goal contributions in his last five matches. Westwood wears the captain's armband. Smith said the vote closed before the World Cup, which he called "a big boost for Tim going into the World Cup."
The club sits 6-6-4 on the season, 22 points, and drew 28,077 to its last home match, a 2-2 result against Atlanta United on Wednesday, July 22.
Who else is on it
MLS announced the roster on Wednesday, July 8. Of the 29 players, 11 were voted in by fans and media, 16 were Coach's Selections, and two, Julian Hall of Red Bull New York and Richie Laryea of Toronto FC, were Commissioner's Picks.
Messi and Rodrigo De Paul come from Inter Miami. Son plays for LAFC, Müller for Vancouver alongside Sebastian Berhalter. Nashville has four players on the roster: goalkeeper Brian Schwake, defender Andy Najar, Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge. Evander is in from FC Cincinnati, Carles Gil from New England, Petar Musa from FC Dallas.
MLS counts 15 nationalities across six continents on the roster. Ten of the 29 are American.
The other side
Liga MX brings 26 players, coached by Antonio Mohamed of Toluca, who has five of his own players on the squad.
The goalkeepers are Nahuel Guzmán of Tigres and Keylor Navas of Pumas. Six of the 26 played for Mexico at the 2026 World Cup: Gilberto Mora, Jesús Gallardo, Israel Reyes, Erik Lira, Brian Gutiérrez and Armando González.
What Smith had to do
"You're going to upset people. That happens," Smith said of the selections. He put the size of the job this way: "when you've got to pick 26 players, 11 of them have already been picked for you." The roster MLS published two days before he spoke lists 29.
He said the assignment came with more than sporting considerations. "You also need to collaborate with the league as well because we want this to be a commercial success and a sporting success as well. But we also want to make sure it's a community success for this city."
He said he aimed for a spread of clubs and a heavy representation from World Cup nations. "America is one of the host nations and it's great, Canada, Mexico. It's great to have people from countries that have participated in the World Cup."
The particulars
The Skills Challenge is set for Tuesday, July 28, the night before the game. MLS says each event within the challenge will crown its own champion, drawing players from both leagues along with guests. No start time appears on the league's All-Star page.
Charlotte was named host in March. "Our stadium has consistently shown that it can deliver unforgettable experiences through world-class events," Kristi Coleman, chief executive of Tepper Sports & Entertainment, said at the time.
Bank of America Stadium is at 800 South Mint Street in Uptown. Tepper Sports & Entertainment, owned by David Tepper, runs the stadium along with Charlotte FC and the Carolina Panthers.
Charlotte FC joined MLS in 2022. On Wednesday it will have three players in the All-Star Game and its own head coach running the team.
Kickoff times, how to watch, and what we know about getting to the stadium are collected in our MLS All-Star Game guide. More on the club at the Charlotte FC page.