Official Concacaf competition will take place
from July 26 – August 25, 2024
Top 3 finishers will qualify for 2025 Concacaf
Champions Cup
2024 edition will feature a Leagues Cup
Ranking and hub privileges for top-ranked LIGA MX clubs.
NEW
YORK AND MEXICO
CITY, Jan. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Major League
Soccer (MLS) and LIGA MX announced the format and groups for
Leagues Cup 2024, the second edition of the international soccer
competition featuring all 47 clubs from Canada, Mexico, and the
United States. The month-long tournament, which will crown a
winner among MLS and LIGA MX clubs, will unfold from July 26 to August 25, 2024, setting the stage for
historic and emerging North American club rivalries.
Leagues Cup 2024, to be played in the
United States and Canada, will decide three qualifiers
for the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup in which the winner will
represent the region at the FIFA Club World Cup. This innovative
club tournament has redefined soccer tournament competition,
showcasing the best talent in North
America and the intensity of the competition.
Leagues Cup 2024 Format
Moving forward, the tournament will introduce a tiered Leagues
Cup Ranking system, as well as hubs for the highest-ranked LIGA MX
clubs. The Leagues Cup ranking will be strictly based on combined
MLS and LIGA MX club performance based on points in the last
34 regular season matches. MLS teams will be ranked based on the
2023 MLS Supporters' Shield standings, while LIGA MX clubs will be
ranked based on the cumulative 34 matches in the 2023 Clausura and
Apertura tournaments.
All participating clubs – except the two Leagues' champions -
are divided into three tiers based on the Leagues Cup Ranking
(1-15, 16-30, 31-45), forming 15 groups of three clubs each, one
club from each tier, prioritizing geographical and competitive
balance among the 45 clubs. For 2024, Leagues Cup will be played in
two regions, East and West, with seven groups in the East and eight
groups in the West, regionalizing travel for all participating
clubs. Like the 2023 format, both LIGA MX and MLS Cup
champions, Club America and Columbus
Crew respectively, receive an automatic bye to the Round of
32. The two champions are not included in the Leagues Cup
Ranking.
The LIGA MX Champion and the three top-ranked LIGA MX clubs will
be granted hub privileges. The hub privileges, which will minimize
LIGA MX club travel and reward them by playing in pre-determined
venues as the home team, are based on the Leagues Cup Ranking. Club
America (League champion with a bye) will have hosting privileges
through the semifinals, C.F. Monterrey (No. 1 rank) through Round of 16,
Chivas Guadalajara (No. 4 rank)
through Round of 32, and Tigres (No. 6 rank) throughout the Group
Stage, rewarding the clubs according to their 2023 Apertura and
Clausura performances.
LIGA MX clubs with hub privileges will play at venues to be
announced alongside the Leagues Cup 2024 schedule and bracket at a
later date.
This new format, based on the Leagues Cup Ranking, was a joint
collaborative effort of the Leagues Cup Organizing Committee,
comprising representatives from Leagues Cup, and both MLS and LIGA
MX leadership. Considerations included rewarding regular season
results and geographical regions while addressing learnings from
2023.
Knockout Rounds: Following the Group Stage, the advancing
30 teams will be joined by LIGA MX and MLS cup champions
(Columbus Crew and Club America,
respectively) and will be placed in a fixed bracket to compete
in the single-game elimination Knockout Rounds beginning with the
Round of 32 (16 matches), followed by Round of 16 (eight matches).
The eight advancing teams will compete in the Quarterfinals (four
matches) before the two Semifinal matches. Leagues Cup 2024
Third Place and Final will determine the three Concacaf Champions
Cup qualified clubs.
No Ties: Leagues Cup will maintain its current No
Ties format. Each team receives one 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, with
games being decided by penalty kick in case of regular time
draw.
Fans in over 100 countries and regions will be able to watch all
77 Leagues Cup matches on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app, the
subscription service from Apple and Major League Soccer that is
available on smart TVs, streaming devices, Apple devices, set-top
boxes, game consoles, and the web at tv.apple.com. In
addition, TelevisaUnivision, TV Azteca, FOX Sports (FS1), TSN and
RDS will be the linear broadcast home for selected group stage
matches in Mexico, United States and Canada.
Ticket Information
Tickets for all matches will be available on LeaguesCup.com and
will also be available to fans via the hosting MLS club. MLS club
season ticket holders should contact their club representative for
more information or visit LeaguesCup.com and follow @LeaguesCup on
social.
Media Assets
Click here for Leagues Cup 2023 assets.
For TV networks and affiliates interested in highlights for use
during news windows only, please sign up here in advance of the
tournament: https://mls.imagencloud.com/
For any media interested in Leagues Cup highlights outside the
news window, please contact Juliana
Rodriguez (Juliana.Rodriguez@MLSsoccer.com)
ABOUT LEAGUES CUP
Leagues Cup represents a monumental new chapter for North
American soccer. Starting in 2023, Major League Soccer and LIGA MX
will continue to pause their seasons each summer and all 47 first
division professional soccer clubs in the U.S., Mexico and Canada will compete in a World Cup-style,
official Concacaf tournament, which will qualify the top three
finishers to the Concacaf Champions Cup. In 2023, MLS' Inter Miami
CF became the first-ever Leagues Cup champion.
Leagues Cup 2024 will kick off Friday,
July 26 and will feature 77 games hosted at stadiums
throughout the U.S. and Canada,
with the Final taking place on Sunday,
August 25. Fans in over 100 countries and regions 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, TV Azteca, TelevisaUnivision, FOX
Sports, TSN and RDS will be the linear broadcast home for select
Leagues Cup matches in the United
States, Mexico and
Canada.
Media Contacts:
For Leagues Cup
Felipe Martinez Amaral
Felipe.martinezamaral@leaguescup.com
+1 646 617 7617
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SOURCE Leagues Cup