July 21 is the start of another big tournament in soccer where MLS and Liga MX clubs will face off to crown the next Leagues Cup Champion.
Teams and groups have already been announced which involves every club in Major League Soccer and Liga MX. During the time of the Leagues Cup, there will be no MLS or LIGA MX regular season matches so that teams can focus on the Leagues Cup tournament. People that might be new to Soccer or not follow it, might be wondering what the Leagues Cup might be, here is everything you need to know about the tournament.
What is Leagues Cup 2023?
The Leagues Cup is an official Concacaf competition in which all MLS and Liga MX clubs will participate. There will be four regions for the tournament, East, West, South, and Central. The tournament will be played in a World Cup style. It will start with a group stage and then be followed by knockout rounds.
How the Leagues Cup standings are scored
If a team wins the match during the full 90-minute match, that team will earn three points towards the standings. During the Leagues Cup, there will be no ties. If the two teams are tied after the full 90-minute match, each team will earn one point and a penalty shootout will take place. The winner of the penalty shootout will earn another point.
Where is the Leagues Cup played?
This year all 77 Leagues Cup matches will be played in MLS stadiums all around the United States and Canada. If there is a Liga MX v. Liga MX match-up, that will also be played in an MLS venue, it would be determined which venue based on the region.
Group stages
During the group stages, every team will be placed into a group to play two matches in the group stage. The MLS Cup Champion and one of the two LIGA MX champions from the Clausura and Apertura will skip the group stage and move into the Round of 32. The way it is figured out which LIGA MX champion will get to move on is based on the most combined points accumulated across both tournaments. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Round of 32.
How are groups assigned?
The group stage assignments depend on how each team did in the 2022 MLS Supporters' Shield and the Lliga MX Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2022. The second- to 16th-placed teams on the 2022 MLS Supporters' Shield will be seeded first in each group. Liga MX clubs ranked second to 16th (based on combined points in the Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2022) will be seeded second and opposite of the MLS rankings. (i.e. Liga MX No. 2 with MLS No. 15). The remaining two Liga MX Clubs along with the remaining 13 MLS clubs will be drawn into groups and placed in the correct geographical group.
Knockout Rounds
The knockout rounds are set up like a normal tournament bracket where it is a single-game elimination. The first round (Round of 32) will hold 16 matches and the winners will move on to the Round of 16. In the Round of 16, eight matches will be played, and winners will move on to the Quarterfinals. Four matches will be played in the Quarterfinals to move teams on to the Semifinals. Two matches will be played, and the winners will move on to the finals and the losers will move to the third-place match. In the third-place match, the winner will qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League. In the Final match, both teams qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League, but the winner of this match will skip directly to the CONCACAF Champions League Round of 16.
How to watch the 2023 Leagues Cup
With Major League Soccer's new 10-year partnership with Apple, every Leagues Cup match will be able to be watched on Apple TV. This will be presented and available to all fans around the world. If you are looking for tickets to the 2023 Leagues Cup, you can go to www.leaguescup.com/tickets, or season members for MLS teams should contact their club representatives. You can be able to find the schedule of all Leagues Cup matches at www.leaguescup.com/schedule