NEW YORK CITY AND MEXICO CITY (March 14, 2024) – Today, the official Leagues Cup 2024 Group Stage Schedule as well as the tournament’s hub venues are unveiled together with the Bracket Announcement presented by Coors Light. The second edition of this Concacaf-sanctioned competition features all 18 clubs from the Mexican league, LIGA MX, and all 29 clubs from Major League Soccer (MLS) representing the U.S. and Canada. These 47 clubs will compete in a World Cup-style club tournament from July 26 to August 25, 2024.
Leagues Cup 2024, to be held in Canada and the United States, will determine three qualifiers for the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup, with the winner of Concacaf Champions Cup representing the region at the FIFA Club World Cup.
Leagues Cup 2024 Group Stage Schedule
The Leagues Cup Group Stage kicks off on Friday, July 26 (8:00 p.m. ET) between two MLS clubs, Atlanta United facing D.C. United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia followed by the first LIGA MX vs. MLS match where Pumas battles Austin FC (9 p.m. ET) at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas, the first in the highly anticipated series of matchups between the two leagues. Also on opening night, LAFC hosts Tijuana at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif. (11:00 p.m. ET), and Seattle Sounders takes on Minnesota United at Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash. (10:00 p.m. ET).
The Leagues Cup reigning champion Inter Miami CF will begin the defense of its title on Saturday, July 27 against Puebla at Chase Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
The Leagues Cup Group Stage will conclude with 15 matches between August 3-6 including exciting cross-league matches such as the highly-awaited Group East 3 match up on Saturday, Aug. 3 where Tigres will host Inter Miami at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas (8:00 p.m. ET), Monterrey hosts Pumas at Q2 Stadium (10 p.m. ET) and on Sunday, August 4, Chivas hosts LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif. (10:30 p.m. ET).
The complete Leagues Cup 2024 Group Stage schedule can be found here.
Advancing teams will compete in the single-game elimination knockout rounds, beginning with the Round of 32 from August 7-9 (16 matches), followed by the Round of 16 from August 12-13 (eight matches). The eight advancing teams will compete in the Leagues Cup Quarterfinals on August 16-17 (four matches) before the two semifinal matches on August 20 or 21.
The Leagues Cup 2024 Final and the Third-place match will be played on Saturday, August 25, which will determine the three clubs that will qualify for the 2025 Concacaf Champions League. The game times and broadcast details for the elimination rounds and Finals will be announced once the match ups are known.
Leagues Cup 2024 Bracket and Venues
As part of today’s Leagues Cup 2024 Bracket Announcement presented by Coors Light, the official tournament bracket – which confirms the East and West region matchups and pathway to the grand final - can be downloaded here.
As previously announced, Leagues Cup 2024 introduced a tournament ranking system and hub privileges for the highest-ranked LIGA MX clubs. The Leagues Cup ranking is based on combined MLS and LIGA MX club performance in the last 34 regular season matches. MLS teams are ranked based on the 2023 MLS Supporters’ Shield standings, while LIGA MX clubs are 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, 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 in the West, to regionalize travel for all participating clubs. Both LIGA MX and MLS Cup champions, Club America and Columbus Crew respectively, receive automatic byes to the Round of 32.
The LIGA MX Champion and the three top-ranked LIGA MX clubs will be granted hub privileges. The cities and venues, which minimize travel and rewards the Mexican clubs by playing in pre-determined locations, are as follows:
- Tickets for all matches will be available on LeaguesCup.com.
- Tickets for D.C. United matches will be available on dcunited.com.
Also announced today, Columbus Crew and Club America, the respective MLS Cup and LIGA MX reigning champions, have learned their Round of 32 schedule. Columbus Crew begin their run on Friday, August 9, hosting the second-place finisher in Group West 4 at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio (7:30 p.m. ET), same day as Club America will make its knock-out stage appearance on hosting the second-place finisher in Group West 8 at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, Calif. (10:00 p.m. ET). More information about the format, ranking and groups, further details can be found at LeaguesCup.com.
Fans in over 100 countries and regions – including Canada, Mexico and the United States - will be able to watch all 77 Leagues Cup matches on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV , the subscription service from Apple and Major League Soccer. MLS Season Pass is available on billions of devices through the Apple TV app on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, set-top boxes, and game consoles, as well as on the web at tv.apple.com. Fans can also access MLS Season Pass from the Apple TV app on Apple Vision Pro, where they can watch games alongside other apps in their physical space; within an Environment, so the screen feels 100 feet wide; and in Spatial Audio for an even more immersive viewing experience. In addition, TelevisaUnivision, TV Azteca, FOX Sports (FS1), TSN and RDS will be the linear broadcast home for selected matches in Mexico, United States and Canada.
ABOUT LEAGUES CUP
Leagues Cup represents a monumental new chapter for North American soccer. Since 2023, Major League Soccer and LIGA MX pause their regular seasons each summer and all 47 first division professional clubs in the U.S., Mexico and Canada will compete in the World Cup-style, official Concacaf sanctioned 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. MLS Season Pass is available on billions of devices through the Apple TV app on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, set-top boxes, and game consoles, as well as on the web at tv.apple.com. Fans can also access MLS Season Pass from the Apple TV app on Apple Vision Pro, where they can watch games alongside other apps in their physical space; within an Environment, so the screen feels 100 feet wide; and in Spatial Audio for an even more immersive viewing experience.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.
