The 2024 Leagues Cup was the fourth edition of the

Leagues Cup The Leagues Cup is an annual soccer competition between clubs from Major League Soccer (MLS), the main soccer league in the United States, and Liga MX, the main soccer league in Mexico. It is hosted in Canada and the United States. It began in ...

, an international club

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

tournament contested by

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

(MLS) and

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

clubs in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. It was held from July 26 to August 25, 2024, with all 77 matches played in Canada and the United States.

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

won the tournament after defeating

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. It was establi ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

at Lower.com Field in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. The three highest-placing teams qualified for the

2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup The 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup was the 60th season of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the premier club association football tournament for North, Central America, and the Caribbean's organized by CONCACAF. It was a five-round knockout tournament, w ...

, with Columbus Crew qualifying directly to the tournament's round of 16 stage. The groups and format for the 2024 edition were announced on January 31. Unlike the 2023 edition, only two regions were used for the tournament's group stage, divided into eight groups in the West and seven in the East. The 45 teams in the group stage were seeded in a combined table based on the 2023 regular season for MLS teams and most recent 34 matches in the Clausura and Apertura for Liga MX teams. Seeding for the group stage was divided into three pots (named "tiers") with geographical balance also considered.

MLS Cup 2023 MLS Cup 2023 was the 28th edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), played on December 9, 2023, at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The soccer match between hosts Columbus Crew of the Eastern ...

champions

and the top Liga MX team by aggregate points in 2023, América, both earned a bye to the round of 32. All matches were played in Canada and United States at MLS venues. The top four teams in the Liga MX table used for seeding (América,

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

, and UANL) had hub privileges that allowed them to be the designated home team in certain rounds. The predetermined venues for the hubs were announced on March 14, 2024. Inter Miami were defending champions, but failed to defend the title after being eliminated by Columbus Crew in the round of 16; Columbus Crew went on to win the tournament for the first time.

Teams

Draw

For the 2024 edition of the Leagues Cup, the 45 teams participating in the group stage were drawn into groups based on a combined ranking that used the 2023 Supporters' Shield table for MLS teams and the most recent 34 matches in the 2023 Clausura and Apertura seasons for Liga MX teams. These teams were divided into three pots from which the groups were drawn.

Seeding

Group stage

The top four Liga MX clubs had "hub rights" that allowed them to host in a fixed region with priority over most MLS teams: *América played in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

starting at

Snapdragon Stadium Snapdragon Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in San Diego, California, located on the campus of San Diego State University (SDSU). It is the home of the San Diego State Aztecs football team of the Mountain West Conference (MW), San Diego FC o ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

in the round of 32; hub privilege lasted through the semifinals. *Monterrey played in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

with both group games at Q2 Stadium in Austin; hub privilege lasted through the round of 16. *Guadalajara played in California starting at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara; hub privilege lasted through the round of 32. *UANL played in Texas starting at Shell Energy Stadium in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

; hub privilege lasted for group stage games only.

East

West

Knockout stage

Bracket

Round of 32

Round of 16

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Third place playoff

Final

Both finalists qualified for the

, with the winners advancing directly to the round of 16.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Controversies

Some pointed out that the Leagues Cup interrupted the schedules of both Liga MX and MLS. French player André-Pierre Gignac stated: "I don't think that in Europe

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

would have agreed to stop the local tournament for a month to go to another country to compete in an international one, but it is part of the growth of two leagues, of a rivalry. The United States is a spectacle and is great." He also added: "It would be good if American clubs could come to play in Mexico because in Mexico there are different altitudes and climates, which would be beneficial." In a similar way, Toluca's Portuguese trainer Renato Paiva declared: “For me it doesn't make sense to cut the tournament. Who am I to teach people to organize tournaments, but I think these types of strikes should be for national teams. Today you start the Leagues Cup, you finish it and start the championship later or you start the championship, you finish it and you start the Leagues Cup later." Additionally, a reporter from the newspaper ''Récord'' reported that the Leagues Cup would impose a $25,000 fine on anyone who spoke negatively about the tournament, which was slightly more than 450,000 Mexican pesos. This decision was reportedly due to the negative feedback received by the event's organizers in 2023, when León players spent an extended period at the airport due to logistical problems. Following Tijuana's defeat to Los Angeles FC on July 26, and regarding a controversial expulsion during the match, goalkeeper Antonio Rodríguez limited his comments to the press area, as he admitted that he could face punishment: “I don't have the slightest idea, I was far away and I only saw that they gave him the red card (…) We can't speak badly about the Leagues Cup because they'll fine us”, the goalkeeper told Salvadoran journalist Rodrigo Serrano.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leagues Cup, 2024

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

2024 in American soccer 2024 in Canadian soccer 2024–25 in Mexican football July 2024 sports events in North America August 2024 sports events in North America 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup