The Leagues Cup is an annual soccer competition between clubs from Major League Soccer, the main soccer league in the United States and Canada, and Liga MX, the main soccer league in Mexico. It is hosted in Canada and the United States. It began in July 2019 with four teams from both leagues participating. The first edition was a single-elimination tournament hosted in the United States with a final played in Whitney, Nevada, near Las Vegas, on September 18, 2019.[1]
In 2023, the tournament was expanded to include all clubs from MLS and Liga MX, and now functions as a regional cup for CONCACAF between the top division leagues in Mexico and United States, and includes MLS teams that are based in Canada. The top three Leagues Cup teams, regardless of nation, qualify for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, with the champions receiving a bye to the round of 16.
The first two editions of Leagues Cup featured four clubs from each league in an eight-team single-elimination knockout tournament, with the first two rounds hosted by the MLS club. The finals were played at neutral venues in Las Vegas, Nevada.[2] The participating MLS teams in the first edition were invitees, but the second edition used league results for qualification; the four Liga MX participants were chosen based on their league results in both of these editions.[3]
For the 2022 season, an official tournament was not held due to fixture congestion from the 2022 FIFA World Cup, among other factors. In its place, a so-called showcase was held, featuring five friendly matches between MLS and Liga MX teams.
Beginning with the 2023 edition, the Leagues Cup currently includes all MLS and Liga MX teams—47 teams in total with 77 matches hosted in Canada and the United States. The top 15 teams from each league are seeded into 15 groups based on their league standings from the previous season, while the remaining teams are drawn based on geographic proximity. The group stage has three matches in a round-robin format and the top two teams qualify for the knockout stage. Two teams receive byes to the knockout stage: the reigning MLS Cup champion and highest-ranked Liga MX champion from either the previous Apertura and Clausura. The knockout stage is single-elimination on a fixed bracket.[4][5]
History
Major League Soccer and Liga MX clubs had previously played in the North American SuperLiga, which ran from 2007 to 2010. Both leagues also send clubs to the CONCACAF Champions League, which has been dominated by Mexican clubs, and the Campeones Cup, a single match played between the winners of the MLS Cup and the Campeón de Campeones.[1] The two leagues began planning a bi-national, eight-team competition to complement the Champions League and provide Mexican clubs with matches to replace the Copa Libertadores in their calendar as soon as 2018.[6][7] MLS and Liga MX announced a new partnership in March 2018 to create the Campeones Cup and explore options for other bi-national competitions between their clubs.[8]
The Leagues Cup tournament was announced on May 29, 2019, featuring eight teams in its inaugural edition to be played during the summer.[3] The announcement of the tournament was panned by soccer critics in the United States, who called it a meaningless friendly and "cash-grab" for American clubs.[9][10][11] The MLS Players Association also expressed concerns over the tournament's creation on the basis of schedule congestion during the summertime.[12]Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada was later announced as the host venue for the final and a broadcasting contract for the tournament was awarded to ESPN and TUDN (formerly Univision Deportes Network).[13][14] This event was also televised on TSN and TVA Sports in Canada and Televisa in Mexico.[15]
In July 2019, MLS and Liga MX announced that the second edition of the Leagues Cup in 2020 would feature 16 teams—eight from each league. The MLS participants would be drawn from the top four teams in each conference that do not qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League; the Liga MX participants would include the 2019 Apertura champion, 2020 Clausura champion, the 2019–20 Copa MX champion, and the next five best-placed teams in the 2019-20 season aggregate table the league.[16][17] The tournament was canceled on May 19, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.[18] The eight-team format debuted in the 2021 Leagues Cup, which was played in August and September.[19] In the final at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, Mexican club León defeated Seattle Sounders FC, the first American finalist in the competition's history.[20][21]
The Leagues Cup was expanded in 2023 to include all MLS and Liga MX clubs, during a month-long pause in their respective seasons. It also became a qualification tournament for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup with three berths for teams from North America.[25] The Leagues Cup champion qualified directly to the round of 16, while the runner-up and third-place finisher earned round one berths.[26]Inter Miami CF won the first edition of the expanded tournament in 2023, led by top goalscorer Lionel Messi.[27]
Criticism
The addition of the Leagues Cup and subsequent schedule congestion led Major League Soccer to announce their intention not to field senior teams in the U.S. Open Cup, the domestic cup competition for the United States. The announcement was met with "widespread anger and condemnation" and the proposal was rejected by the United States Soccer Federation. A hybrid plan with eight MLS participants and MLS Next Pro reserve teams as replacements for the remaining teams was used for the 2024 U.S. Open Cup.[28] Several Major League Soccer supporters' groups announced boycotts of the Leagues Cup as a result of the league's attempted withdrawal from the U.S. Open Cup.[29][30][31]
Trophy
The Leagues Cup trophy was unveiled in September 2019 and consists of a 22-pound (10.0 kg) silver bowl atop a pedestal. It is 16.5 inches (42 cm) in height and 16.1 inches (41 cm) wide. A replica trophy will be gifted to the winners following 12 months with the original trophy.[32]
Broadcasting
Since 2023, all Leagues Cup matches have been broadcast worldwide on MLS Season Pass, an online streaming platform operated by Apple under its Apple TV brand. All matches have commentary in English and Spanish, while those involving Canadian teams also include French commentary.[33] A select group of matches are also set to be broadcast on television networks using their own crews, including Fox Sports and TUDN in the United States; and TSN and RDS in Canada.[34][35]
