The building of the Montreal Impact MLS team started on October 3, 2011 with the signing of defensemen Nelson Rivas, who previously played for Inter Milan of the Italian Serie A.

[2] The club later awarded MLS contracts to former NASL team defensemen Hassoun Camara,[3] goalkeeper Evan Bush[4] and midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic.

[5] On November 23, 2011, the league held the 2011 MLS Expansion Draft which allowed the Impact to select ten players from their existing club's unprotected list.

Chivas USA), Justin Mapp (from Philadelphia Union), Bobby Burling (from San Jose Earthquakes), Jeb Brovsky (from Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Collen Warner (from Real Salt Lake), Josh Gardner (from Columbus Crew), Sanna Nyassi (from Colorado Rapids), James Riley (from Seattle Sounders FC) and Seth Sinovic (from Sporting Kansas City) were selected by the Montreal team.

[7] Seth Sinovic was later traded with allocation money to Sporting Kansas City for eventual captain Davy Arnaud.

[8] The club continued to build by adding defensemen Tyson Wahl,[9] midfielder Bryan Arguez,[10] and goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.

[18] After a long period of uncertainty regarding his desire to play in Montreal, forward Brian Ching was sent back to Houston Dynamo for a conditional pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft.

[19] The following day, Impact selected Eddie Johnson via allocation process, but immediately traded him to Seattle Sounders FC for Mike Fucito and Lamar Neagle.

[20] After making a good impression in training camp, veteran forward and long time Impact player Eduardo Sebrango was awarded a contract for MLS.

[27] On May 12, 2012, the Impact played in front of a crowd of 60,860 spectators during a game against the Los Angeles Galaxy, establishing a record attendance for a professional soccer match in Canada.

[28] On May 24, 2012, Montreal Impact announced the signing of their first-ever Designated Player in Italian striker and Serie A veteran Marco Di Vaio.

Bryan Arguez[36] and Miguel Montaño[37] were sent on loans and Bobby Burling, who was selected in the 2011 MLS Expansion Draft but never signed with the team, was traded to C.D.

The division consists of seven teams, including Columbus Crew, D.C. United, New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls, Philadelphia Union and Toronto FC.

Each club in Major League Soccer is allocated 8 international roster spots and Montreal acquired one slot in a trade with Portland Timbers.