The Union’s regular season opener Sunday vs. Columbus will be unlike any in MLS history

When the Union and Columbus Crew kick off against each other Sunday night (5:30 p.m., FS1 and Fox Deportes), they will be doing something never before seen in Major League Soccer.

It will the first time in the league’s 26-year history that the reigning MLS Cup and Supporters’ Shield winners will face each other on a regular season’s opening weekend. That may seem hard to believe, but it’s true.

MLS Cup vs. U.S. Open Cup winner opening-weekend matchups are also rare. They’ve only ever happened twice, 2003 and 2008.

In other parts of the world, it’s pretty common to have last season’s trophy winners play each other to kick off a domestic campaign, though the matchups aren’t regular-season contests. Instead, they’re glamorous exhibitions with a trophy at stake — called the Community Shield in England, and the SuperCup in Germany, Spain, Japan and elsewhere.

Sometimes they take place at one of the teams’ stadiums, and sometimes they’re at a showcase neutral venue. The Community Shield game is traditionally played at London’s Wembley Stadium, for example. The French and Italian SuperCups have occasionally been played in foreign countries (including the United States) to attract new fans.

» READ MORE: An analysis of the Union’s roster at the start of the 2021 season

A neutral-site MLS SuperCup probably wouldn’t draw a big enough crowd to be worthwhile. But it would be nice to see a matchup of trophy winners kick off the season every year.

“I wouldn’t mind that — I think it would be a good tradition to adopt,” said former Union captain Maurice Edu, who will call Sunday’s game on FS1 with veteran Union play-by-play voice JP Dellacamera. “This could be our version of that [global tradition] … Everything is aligning to make this a really, really special game, and I’m excited to call it.”

Union manager Jim Curtin said he “absolutely” thinks it ought to be an annual event. So does Columbus forward Bradley Wright-Phillips, who won three Shields with the New York Red Bulls in the last decade.

“For the neutral fan, it’s a good spectacle,” he said. “I think they’re going to enjoy it, and it will bring a lot of views to the first game of the season.”

Los Angeles FC manager Bob Bradley believes it will be good for the players, too.

“It’s a big challenge for two teams that have had success the previous season to start off,” Bradley said, “and create a big game right from the start. So I think it’s a great idea.”

» READ MORE: A year after winning their first trophy, are the Union good enough for an encore?

Though Sunday’s game will be the teams’ regular-season openers, it won’t be their first official games of the year. That’s what happens when you’re in the Concacaf Champions League, as both teams are thanks to last year’s trophies. They each won their round-of-16 series: the Union over Saprissa 5-0 on aggregate, and Columbus over Nicaragua’s Real Estelí by the same score.

The second legs of those series took place this week. Because the Crew won the first leg in Nicaragua in a 4-0 rout, Porter was able to rest many of his top players for Thursday’s home game. Striker Gyasi Zardes and centerback Jonathan Mensah got the night off, playmaker Lucas Zelarayán only played the second half, and winger Pedro Santos played the last 15 minutes. Columbus prevailed 1-0 with a late Wright-Phillips goal.

Curtin didn’t have that luxury for the Union’s second game against Saprissa, since the first game ended 1-0. (Saprissa is also a better team than than Estelí.) It was still surprising, though, that Jamiro Monteiro played the entire second game after it turned into a rout.

Columbus has pretty much everyone back from last year’s title-winning squad, and the Union haven’t won at the Crew since 2016. Union fans need no reminding of last year’s two narrow losses. This will be the Union’s only visit of the year to Columbus, and it’s good to get it out of the way early.

It will also be their last visit to the venue now known as Historic Crew Stadium. A sterling new building will open this summer on the edge of downtown, about a half-mile west of the Blue Jackets’ hockey arena.

» READ MORE: Jamiro Monteiro again shows Union fans — and the front office — why he’s so important

Both games of the Union-Atlanta United Concacaf Champions League quarterfinals will be played on Tuesdays, April 27 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and May 4 at Subaru Park, each at 8 p.m.

It’s the only all-MLS matchup of the quarterfinals. The other three are MLS vs. Mexican club showdowns: Toronto FC vs. Cruz Azul, Portland Timbers vs. Club América and Columbus Crew vs. Monterrey. The Mexican teams will host the second legs in all three series, which will make it harder for the MLS teams to advance.

Mexican teams have won Concacaf’s top club tournament every year since 2005. No MLS team has won it since 2000, when the Los Angeles Galaxy prevailed out of a smaller field.

Here’s the full quarterfinal-round schedule. Fox (in English) and Univision (in Spanish) have the broadcast rights, with specific channels for games still to be determined.

April 27: Atlanta vs. Union, 8 p.m., and Toronto vs. Cruz Azul, 10:15 p.m.

April 28: Columbus vs. Monterrey, 8:30 p.m., and Portland vs. Club América, 10:30 p.m.

May 4: Union vs. Atlanta, 8 p.m., and Cruz Azul vs. Toronto, 10:15 p.m.

May 5: Monterrey vs. Columbus, 8 p.m., and Club América vs. Portland, 10:15 p.m.