A new soccer (and business) bridge between the US and Mexico. That’s what the Leagues Cup represents, an official tournament that starts this year, that 47 MLS and Liga MX teams will play for a month and that strengthening cross-border ties ahead of the 2026 World Cup organized by the US, Mexico and Canada.
In 77 games in total to be played in the US and Canadathe Leagues Cup seeks to mark the before and after in North American soccer and the increasingly close relationship between these two leagues.
“This unprecedented international competition is part of the evolution of the successful partnership between MLS and Liga MX launched in 2018,” MLS sports director Alfonso Mondelo told EFE.
“The two leagues maintain good relations and have formed a strategic association to focus on sharing best practices, prioritizing social responsibility efforts, and competing by stimulating the existing sports rivalry between countries,” he explained.
In recent years there have been other examples of occasional collaborations such as MLS All-Star, where the league’s best are pitted against Liga MX’s most outstanding; or the Campeones Cup, a kind of Super Cup between the winners of the same championship.
But this Leagues Cup, conceived from a small friendly tournament between several teams, This is a more ambitious, powerful and groundbreaking project.
Mondelo emphasized that it was “the first official tournament in the world involving two leagues and endorsed by its confederation.”
“It is something innovative that the two leagues will face each other directly with all their clubs in a direct competition to crown a champion,” the MLS executive added.
The potential market is huge: the population between the US, Mexico and Canada is about 500 million people (for comparison, there are about 450 million living in the European Union).
In addition, the growth of MLS in recent years is indisputable and that can also be seen in the support of sponsors and corporations, especially in a great agreement with Apple so that the giant apple offers streaming of all league matches and worldwide for 10 years from 2023.
According to the specialized portal Sport Business Journal, Apple will pay at least 250 million dollars a year as part of its agreement with MLS.
On the other hand, Mondelo emphasized that “the two leagues and the clubs individually” are focused on building attention and expectations before the launch of the Leagues Cup.
One of the incentives is, for example, to see Mexican stars like Carlos’ candle (Los Angeles FC) and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez (LA Galaxy) against Liga MX clubs in an official tournament.
The Leagues Cup, whose format and dates are reminiscent – save for the distances – of the World Cups, also comes just three years before the US, Mexico and Canada host the 2026 World Cup.
In this sense, Mondelo emphasized the “opportunity” that the Leagues Cup provides to advance the preparation of the 2026 event -the first World Cup with three host countries- with a tournament that, according to places and number of matches , will be “similar. in terms of as far as logistics are concerned.”
The keys to the contest
In the Leagues Cup, two teams will go directly to the round of 32: the winner of the MLS Cup (Los Angeles FC) and, in Liga MX, the team of the two most recent Apertura and Clausura champions with the most points in 2022 (Pachuca).
The remaining 45 sets will be distributed among 15 groups of three. Each group will have at least one team from Liga MX and the distribution will take into account each team’s classification in their league. The best two from each group will advance to the round of 32.
One of the most curious and interesting aspects of the Leagues Cup is that there are no group stage draws. If a match ends in a draw, both teams will get a point but there will also be a penalty shootout where the winner gets an extra point.
Also, the first three of the Leagues Club (champion, runner-up and winner of the match for third place) will qualify for the Concacaf Champions League.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
