2023 Leagues Cup

2023 Leagues Cup
The 2023 Leagues Cup was the third edition of the Leagues Cup, an international club soccer tournament between Major League Soccer (MLS) and Liga MX. It was held from July 21 to August 19, 2023, with all 77 matches held in either the United States or Canada. The tournament was organized by MLS and the Mexican Football Federation and sanctioned by CONCACAF, the continental governing body for the sport in North America.
Inter Miami CF won the tournament after defeating Nashville SC on penalties in the final at Geodis Park in Nashville, Tennessee. Miami's Lionel Messi was the top goalscorer and awarded the best player of the Leagues Cup.
For the first time in the history of the competition, all MLS and Liga MX teams (47 total) competed in the tournament, with both leagues taking a pause in their respective seasons to participate. In addition, the Leagues Cup finalists and third-place team earned berths to the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup, with winners Inter Miami automatically advancing to that tournament's round of 16.
Format
The 2023 Leagues Cup was the first edition where all MLS and Liga MX teams participated. The MLS Cup 2022 winners (Los Angeles FC) and the 2022 Clausura or 2022 Apertura champions with the highest aggregate points accumulated across 2022 (Pachuca) qualified automatically for the round of 32. The remaining 45 teams were placed into 15 groups of three.
For the group stage, teams played one match against each team in their group. Regulation wins were worth three points and regulation losses are zero points. Matches tied after 90 minutes advanced to a penalty shoot-out, where the winner earned two points and the loser earned one. All matches were held in either the United States or Canada, with the MLS teams playing at home and intra-Liga MX matches played at MLS venues depending on their region. Matches disrupted by inclement weather, including thunderstorms, were delayed or postponed to another date to resume at the time of the stoppage.
The top two teams in each group advanced to the round of 32, joining the MLS Cup winners and highest-ranked Liga MX champion. This phase of the tournament was a five-round single-leg knockout format with a third place match. As was the case during the group stage, knockout stage matches tied after 90 minutes were decided by a penalty shoot-out. The two finalists and third place team earned berths for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup, with the winners automatically advancing to the Champions Cup round of 16.
Teams and draw
The competition featured all 47 clubs from the two leagues: 29 from MLS and 18 from Liga MX. Teams were ranked by league using the 2022 Supporters' Shield standings for MLS and the 2022 aggregate table for Liga MX. The champions of each league received a bye to the knockout stage as the highest seed. The top 15 remaining teams from each league were placed into groups based on ranking and in reverse order (for example, the 2nd-ranked MLS club was drawn against the 16th-ranked Liga MX club). The remaining teams (13 MLS and 2 Liga MX) were drawn into groups and divided into geographical regions. The first two teams of every group were seeded. The third team was the nearest geographically located unseeded team to the other two teams.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows.
Group stage
The group stage was played from July 21 to 31. Competing teams were divided into fifteen groups of three teams. Teams in each group played one another in a single round-robin, where the top two teams advanced to the knockout stage.
West
Central
South
East
Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, if the scores were equal at the end of regulation time, a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winners.
The host team was determined by several criteria, including group winner for round of 32 and the 2022 regular season standings for matches between two MLS clubs, where the team with the higher number of points hosted starting in round of 16. For MLS v. Liga MX matches, the MLS club hosted. Matches between two Liga MX teams were hosted at a neutral venue appointed by the Organizing Committee from a predetermined list.
Bracket
Round of 32
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Third place play-off
Final
Both clubs qualified for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup, with the winners qualifying directly to the round of 16.
Statistics
Top goalscorers
Marketing and symbols
The official song of the tournament was "Tiki Taka Toco", sung in Spanish by California-based Mexicana group Fuerza Regida. A short instrumental version of the song is used for match broadcasts on MLS Season Pass as well as advertisements and stadium announcements. The marketing for the tournament focused heavily on the arrival of Lionel Messi at Inter Miami CF, which was credited with increasing subscriptions and viewership; on the day of Messi's debut for Miami, subscriptions to MLS Season Pass rose by 110,000 in the United States.
References
External links
2023
2023–24 in CONCACAF football
2023 in American soccer
2023 in Canadian soccer
2023–24 in Mexican football
2023 in association football
July 2023 sports events in North America
August 2023 sports events in North America
2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup