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 Canada and the United States. The tournament was organized by the two leagues (MLS and Liga MX) and sanctioned by CONCACAF, the continental governing body for the sport in North America, Central America and Caribbean.[1]
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.[3] 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 starting lineups of Seattle Sounders FC (in green) and Monterrey (in white) prior to their group stage match
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.[4][5]
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 Canada and United States, with the MLS teams playing at home and intra-Liga MX matches played at MLS venues depending on their region.[1][4][5] Matches disrupted by inclement weather, including thunderstorms, were delayed or postponed to another date to resume at the time of the stoppage.[6]
Tie-breaking criteria for group play
The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows:[7]: 13
Points obtained in all group matches;
Direct head-to-head match result between the tied clubs (for clarity, a victory on penalties was considered a win for purposes of this tiebreaker);
Better goal differential between goals scored and goals conceded during the group stage;
Greater number of goals scored during the group stage;
Fewer number of goals conceded during the group stage;
Clubs fair play table
First yellow card: –1 point
Second yellow card (indirect red card): –3 points (The first yellow card was not considered)
Direct red card: –3 points
Yellow card followed by a direct red card: –4 points;
A draw organized by the organizing committee.
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.[7]: 14 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.[1]
Teams and draw
The competition featured all 47 clubs from the two leagues: 29 from MLS and 18 from Liga MX.[8] Teams were ranked by league using the 2022 Supporters' Shield table 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.[4]
The group stage was played from July 21 to 31.[10] 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.
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.[7]: 15
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 vs. 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.[11]
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.[13] 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;[14] on the day of Messi's debut for Miami, subscriptions to MLS Season Pass rose by 110,000 in the United States.[15]
Controversies
This edition received accusations of being designed to favor MLS teams. Most notably, the fact that all matches were played at MLS venues in Canada or United States.[16][17] Some Mexican coaches and players considered the format unfair, since there was no games in Mexico. For example, Nicolás Larcamón, coach of Club León stated: "there is a benefit for the MLS teams, on their field, in their environment, in their climate. I would love to have a second game in León, It would be ideal to play in both stadiums to equilibrate the balance".[18]
The Mexican (and LAFC) player Carlos Vela declared: "Obviously, for me, the fairest thing is we should also had games in Mexico, that it shouldn't be all playing in the United States, so that everyone could had a little bit of playing away, at home, and being a little more even" he also added: “Not only does (being local) benefit, the Mexican team has to be away from their home and their families for a long time and it is not fair. I believe that, if you hold a tournament, everyone must have the same possibilities, or the same advantages and disadvantages, in that aspect I think that those from the MLS have a little more advantage, (Although) in the end we know that anything can happen on the field ”.[19]
Noticeably, this was also reflected in a greater travel effort for the Mexican squads since the 18 Liga MX clubs traveled more than twice as many kilometers as all 29 in the MLS. Mexicans added an estimated 69,495 km; while combined Americans and Canadians, only 33,995. The criticism was more severe from the president of Club Monterrey, who, prior to their match against Los Angeles FC, pointed out that the Mexicans had moved more than 9,000 km, while throughout the Leagues Cup the team from the MLS had not left the Los Angeles metropolitan area.[16][20]
“It’ll be our fifth game (traveling), while LA(FC) will be home with their players eating dinner with their families every night, going to the movies, resting,” he stated.[17]
