The fundamental question is simple enough.

How have the Philadelphia Union managed to be the most consistently competitive team in MLS – and win the 2025 Supporters’ Shield – with one of the lowest wage bills in the league, all while producing a steady stream of homegrown talents, several of whom fetched seven-figure transfer fees?

Philly’s sturdy, workmanlike culture has powered them to the top of MLS, and ensured that the road to this year’s MLS Cup presented by Audi runs through Subaru Park, where they’ll welcome New York City FC in Sunday’s Eastern Conference Semifinal (7:45 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV).

But how?

Majority owner Jay Sugarman is likely to start his answer by happily reeling off some statistical categories in which his club rank at or near the bottom of MLS.

“We don't care about possession where it doesn't matter,” Sugarman explained in a recent roundtable with reporters at MLS headquarters in New York City. “So we're not seventh or 12th or 15th or 19th – we're dead last in the league in terms of touching the ball in our own half.

“It's really about dangerous possession. How do we get the ball in dangerous places?”

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The Philly way

Guided by the acronym AC/DC – attack collectively, defend collectively – the Union’s game model is pragmatic, direct and selfless, centered on well-drilled patterns and collective movements and understanding.

And defiantly unconcerned with much of the sport’s traditional conventional wisdom.

“We don't rely so much on guys creating their own shot,” Sugarman added. “We are 29th in the league in one-on-one take-ons. So we're not about individual moments of brilliance breaking down a defense.

“But we will get in dangerous places, and our team working together will create opportunities, and you see that in the fact that we're No. 2 in shots.”

As Sugarman lays out a presentation that he’s by now grown well-versed at, he arrives at the numbers that do matter to Philly.

Like conceding the fewest shots and fewest goals. Being tops in the league in tackles and interceptions; tops in corner kicks and throw-ins earned, a product of their aggressive approach pushing opponents onto the back foot – “We may not make the easy passes, but we make hard passes. We put the opponent in places where they have a tough time handling what's coming next,” Sugarman noted.

Or leading the way in homegrown minutes played, and the number of international call-ups among their academy teams. And the list goes on.

“Some people will look at our pass completion percentage and our limited number of touches and say, how can you score?” he said. “Well, it really comes down to this: We turn defense into offense. We're number two in goals since 2020… and most importantly to me, number one in goal differential.

“The proof’s in the pudding, obviously the thing that everybody cares about: We're number one in points since 2020. And I think we've done it sort of under the radar. We want more people to understand some of the work that's gone into this.”

One man's vision

The Union proudly zig where others zag. That’s guided above all by the philosophies of sporting director Ernst Tanner, who honed his ideas at TSV 1860 Munich, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and Red Bull Salzburg before turning Sugarman’s head with a markedly different perspective from those he’d encountered as he sought to turn around an organization that struggled for purchase in its early years in MLS.

“His vision was so clear,” recalled Sugarman. “Like, this is what's going to work. This is what we have to do: we have to have everything in one place. We have to have these facilities, we have to have this kind of player.

“He was showing me clips: When everybody works together, this is what it will look like. And I was like, that is compelling. That makes sense. Like six players, as soon as the ball turns over, they're all moving at once, not one player moving and two more sort of moving. It was like this flow of players back and forth. And so when you see something like that, that's so different than what you've seen and been told, it makes a big impression.”

Sugarman admits to being a “total contrarian” by nature. And in Tanner, he found a veteran of the footballing world who’d plotted a plan for consistent competitiveness – on a budget, without the need for pricey Designated Player-tier expenditures – via a similar mentality.

“Ernst had already figured it out. He'd already seen that that style of play can beat anybody,” said Sugarman, who’s all too familiar with the perception that elite talents like Lionel Messi and Son Heung-Min will eclipse the Union’s system with their sheer quality in knockout situations.

“So what's the Philly formula? We've heard a lot of fun football debates around stars vs. system, but in our minds, it kind of misses a key piece, which is culture. So for us, it's really about getting the right players in the right system, in the right culture. I think with that, you can beat anyone.”

All-in on MLS Cup

The Union have won two Shields, MLS NEXT titles, made deep runs in Concacaf Champions Cup, reaped millions in profitable transfer sales and built out arguably the league’s best player-development infrastructure with the brand-new WSFS Bank Sportsplex, adjacent to Subaru Park. Yet MLS Cup is the prize that’s proven most elusive, and that animates their run in this year’s Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.

After falling agonizingly short in the epic 2022 final vs. LAFC and resetting their technical staff after last year’s disappointing failure to qualify for the postseason – out went beloved coach and hometown hero Jim Curtin, in came Bradley Carnell, the 2025 Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year – they feel like this might finally be their moment.

Even with the existence of a certain Argentine GOAT and his friends down in South Florida.

“Our goal right now is to win a cup,” said Sugarman. “You can feel it in the players, you can feel it in the coaching staff, you can feel it at the ownership level. It feels like the one thing we haven't quite gotten our hands on, and there's no question that success will open doors for us that maybe aren't quite open yet.”

Whatever happens in the next few weeks, though, the master plan is in place for the long run, a north star from which Philly won’t waver.

“We're investing tens of millions of dollars; we're not going to change that overnight,” said Sugarman. “What we are hoping is we're building something sustainably.”