The 2023 Leagues Cup tournament will see 15 groups with Major League Soccer and Liga MX teams compete in a ‘World Cup-style’ competition from July 21 to August 19.
For the first time ever, all teams from both leagues will compete in the month-long event.
The groups each contain three teams, and stand divided by four different regions: West (three groups), Central (four groups), South (four groups) and East (four groups).
The reigning MLS and Liga MX champions will not participate in the group stage and advance directly to the knockout round of 32. The competition’s top three finishers will qualify for the 2024 Concacaf Champions League, with league competition paused.
The match schedule and bracket were finally announced, here’s everything you need to know:
Automatic qualifiers
Two teams have qualified directly into the Round of 32 for their performance last year.
15 groups
Per league rules, the place of the top 15 MLS teams was determined by their matching region and their position in the 2022 Supporters’ Shield standings. Liga MX teams were then ranked by the aggregate 2022 table, and placed into the groups through reverse order so that the number 1 team would be placed with the number 15 side from the American league.
The remaining MLS clubs were placed into their matching region first and then organized into the groups by their position in the Supporters’ Shield standings.
All clubs will play two games each, with a group stage schedule set to be revealed at a later time.
Where Bye teams enter
West
West 1: Tigres UANL, Portland Timbers, San Jose Earthquakes
West 2: Monterrey, Real Salt Lake, Seattle Sounders FC
West 3: LA Galaxy, Club Leon, Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Central
Central 1: America, Columbus Crew, St. Louis CITY SC
Central 2: Puebla, Minnesota United FC, Chicago Fire FC
Central 3: Chivas Guadalajara , FC Cincinnati, Sporting Kansas City
Central 4: Nashville SC, Toluca, Colorado Rapids
South
South 1: Austin FC, Mazatlan FC, FC Juarez
South 2: Santos Laguna, Orlando City SC, Houston Dynamo FC
South 3: Cruz Azul, Inter Miami CF, Atlanta United
South 4: FC Dallas, Necaxa, Charlotte FC
East
East 1: Philadelphia Union, Club Tijuana, Queretaro
East 2: CF Montreal, Pumas, D.C. United
East 3: New York City FC, Atlas, Toronto FC
East 4: New York Red Bulls, Atletico de San Luis, New England Revolution
Credit: 90min.com
