Leagues Cup

2023 Groups

The 15 groups are now set for the inaugural edition of the highly-anticipated Leagues Cup 2023, the official Concacaf competition where all 47 clubs - 18 from LIGA MX and 29 from MLS - will play in a World Cup-style tournament that will qualify three clubs for the 2024 Concacaf Champions League. The inaugural edition of Leagues Cup will take place July 21- August 19, 2023.

As the 2022 MLS Cup champion, Los Angeles Football Club qualified directly into the Round of 32 of Leagues Cup 2023. LIGA MX champion Club de Fútbol Pachuca earned the bye as the LIGA MX champion with the most combined points accumulated across the Clausura and Apertura seasons in the 2022 calendar year.

The Leagues Cup 2023 groups are based on clubs' 2022 performance along with their geographic regions. The 15 groups will be broken up into four regions: West, Central, South and East. Each region will have four groups, except the West, which will have three groups due to LAFC’s entrance in the Knockout Stage. Pachuca will enter the Knockout Stage in the South, opposite side of the bracket from the MLS Cup Champion and opposite quadrant from the top MLS seeded club based on the final 2022 Supporters’ Shield standings. Since LAFC won the 2022 Supporters' Shield, the club in the opposite quadrant will be the team that finished second – the Philadelphia Union, who will be in Group 1 in the East Region (East 1).

The top 15 MLS clubs – excluding the MLS Cup champion – have been placed in their corresponding geographic region first, and then based on their position in the final 2022 Supporters’ Shield standings. The top 15 LIGA MX teams, based on the combined Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2022 standings – excluding the LIGA MX champion as described above – have been paired in reverse order with the top 15 MLS clubs (No. 15 LIGA MX seeded club has been paired with No. 1 MLS seeded club and so on).

Continuing with the competitive balance criteria, the remaining 13 MLS clubs have been placed in the groups, again based first on their geographic region, and then based on their position in the final 2022 Supporters’ Shield standings.

With the MLS clubs placed into groups, the South and East regions have one remaining slot each. Based on the combined Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2022 standings, the last two remaining LIGA MX clubs, FC Juarez and Querétaro, have been placed in the open positions in these two regions to complete the groups. Placed in reverse order from the highest seed in each group, Querétaro (No. 17 LIGA MX) and FC Juarez (No. 16 LIGA MX) have been respectively paired with Philadelphia Union (No. 1 MLS) in the East and Austin FC (No. 3 MLS) in the South.

Every team will play two matches in the Group Stage, with the top two teams from each group, as determined by points, advancing to the Knockout Stage Round of 32. No matches in the Leagues Cup Group Stage will end in a tie. If a game is tied after 90 minutes, the game will proceed to a penalty shootout. For tiebreakers and other competition items, the Leagues Cup 2023 Competition Guidelines will be published in the coming months.

Beginning in 2023, MLS and LIGA MX will pause their respective league seasons each summer and all 47 first division clubs in Canada, Mexico and the United States will compete in the World Cup-style tournament, which is an official Concacaf competition. The inaugural Leagues Cup will consist of 77 matches, kicking off on Friday, July 21, with the final taking place on Saturday, August 19. The tournament will be played across the U.S. and Canada. The champion, as well as the second and third-place finishers will qualify for the Concacaf Champions League and have an opportunity to earn a spot in the FIFA Club World Cup.

Fans around the world will be able to watch Leagues Cup* on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app, which is available on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices from Roku, Amazon, and Google, game consoles, and the web at tv.apple.com.

In addition, TelevisaUnivision, FOX Sports, TSN and RDS will be the linear broadcast home for select Leagues Cup matches. The Leagues Cup Final will be available on Univision in Spanish.

*This excludes Leagues Cup for viewers in Mexico

Format

• An official Concacaf competition
• All MLS and LIGA MX clubs will participate
• World Cup style tournament: group stage followed by knockout rounds
• 4 regions: East, West, South, Central
• 77 games hosted at MLS stadiums throughout the U.S. and Canada
• LIGA MX v. LIGA MX matches will be played at MLS venues depending on region

No Ties!

• No ties in Leagues Cup 2023
• Each team receives 1 point if the game is tied after 90 minutes.
• The winner of the subsequent penalty shootout will earn an additional point.
• Regulation wins count as three points.

Group Stage Byes For 2022 Champions

• 2022 MLS Cup Champion skips the group stage and starts at Round of 32
• Of the two LIGA MX recent champions in Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2022, the club with the most combined points accumulated across both tournaments in the 2022 calendar year will skip the group stage and start at Round of 32

Group Stage

• Each club will play a minimum of two matches in group stage
• The top two teams from each group will advance, based on group points
• Tiebreakers and full competition guidelines will be published in the coming months

Group Assignments

• MLS clubs ranked 2 to 16 based on 2022 Supporters’ Shield finish are seeded first in each group
• LIGA MX clubs ranked 2 to 16 based on total points from Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2022 combined will be in the second position in each group, opposite the MLS rankings (LIGA MX #15 paired with MLS #2)
• The remaining 13 MLS clubs, together with the 2 remaining LIGA MX clubs, will be drawn into groups and divided geographically.

Knockout Rounds

• Single game elimination
• Round of 32: 16 matches
• Round of 16: 8 matches
• Quarterfinals: 4 matches
• Semifinals
• Third place match (winner qualifies for Concacaf Champions League)
• Final on on Saturday, August 19 (both clubs qualify for Concacaf Champions League; Leagues Cup winner skips directly to Concacaf Champions League Round of 16)

Tournament Rewards

• Third place match winner qualifies for Concacaf Champions League
• Both clubs in the Leagues Cup final qualify for Concacaf Champions League
• Leagues Cup 2023 Champion qualifies directly to Concacaf Champions League Round of 16

Courtesy of MLSSoccer.com