SANDY, Utah / NEW YORK / MEXICO CITY (Wed., January 31, 2024) – Real Salt Lake, in conjunction with Major League Soccer (MLS) and LIGA MX today announced the format and groups for this Summer’s Leagues Cup 2024, the second edition of the international soccer competition featuring all 47 top-level clubs from Canada, Mexico, and the United States. This year’s month-long tournament, which will again crown a winner among MLS and LIGA MX clubs, unfolds from Friday, July 26 to Sunday, August 25, 2024, setting the stage for historic and emerging North American club rivalries.
For this year’s tourney, Real Salt Lake was drawn into the WEST 8 group, joining Liga MX side Atlas F.C. – who RSL hosted back in 2022 in a Leagues Cup “showcase” match – and recent rival Houston Dynamo, which eliminated RSL in both last year’s Open Cup Semifinal and a tightly-contested first-round, best-of-three series in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs that saw shootouts in legs two and three determine the winner.
Based on the ranking format that created the three 2024 Leagues Cup tiers, RSL was ranked 16th overall in the 2024 Leagues Cup rankings, narrowly missing out on the top tier; group opponent Houston Dynamo (ranked 14th) will host both of its matches against RSL and Atlas F.C. (ranked 37th).
Leagues Cup 2024, to be played in the United States and Canada, will decide three qualifiers for the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup, which in turns sees that winner represent the region at the FIFA Club World Cup. This innovative club tournament has redefined soccer tournament competition, showcasing the best talent in North America and the intensity of the competition.
Leagues Cup 2024 Format
Moving forward, the tournament will introduce a tiered Leagues Cup Ranking system, as well as hubs for the highest-ranked LIGA MX clubs. The Leagues Cup ranking will be strictly based on combined MLS and LIGA MX club performance based on points in the last 34 regular season matches. MLS teams will be ranked based on the 2023 MLS Supporters’ Shield standings, while LIGA MX clubs will be 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, one club from each tier, 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 groups in the West, regionalizing travel for all participating clubs. Once again, like the 2023 format – both reigning champions from LIGA MX (Club América) and MLS Cup (Columbus Crew) – receive an automatic bye to the Round of 32. The two champions are not included in the Leagues Cup Ranking.
The LIGA MX Champion and the three top-ranked LIGA MX clubs will be granted hub privileges. The hub privileges, which will minimize LIGA MX club travel and reward them by playing in pre-determined venues as the home team, are based on the Leagues Cup Ranking. Club America (League champion with a bye) will have hosting privileges through the semifinals, C.F. Monterrey (No. 1 rank) through Round of 16, Chivas Guadalajara (No. 4 rank) through Round of 32, and Tigres (No. 6 rank) throughout the Group Stage, rewarding the clubs according to their 2023 Apertura and Clausura performances.
LIGA MX clubs with hub privileges will play at venues to be announced alongside the Leagues Cup 2024 schedule and bracket at a later date.
This new format, based on the Leagues Cup Ranking, was a joint collaborative effort of the Leagues Cup Organizing Committee, comprising representatives from Leagues Cup, and both MLS and LIGA MX leadership. Considerations included rewarding regular season results and geographical regions while addressing learnings from 2023.
Knockout Rounds: Following the Group Stage – which again sees RSL host Atlas FC and travel to Houston – the advancing 30 teams will be joined by LIGA MX and MLS cup champions (Club America and Columbus Crew) and will be placed in a fixed bracket to compete in the single-game elimination Knockout Rounds beginning with the Round of 32 (16 matches), followed by Round of 16 (eight matches). The eight advancing teams will compete in the Quarterfinals (four matches) before the two Semifinal matches.Leagues Cup 2024 Third Place and Final matches will determine the three Concacaf Champions Cup qualified clubs.
No Ties: Leagues Cup will maintain its current No Ties format. Each team receives one point if the game is tied after 90 minutes. The winner of the subsequent penalty shootout will earn an additional point. Regulation wins count as three points, with games being decided by penalty kick in case of regular time draw.
Fans in over 100 countries and regions will be able to watch all 77 Leagues Cup matches on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app, the subscription service from Apple and Major League Soccer that is available on smart TVs, streaming devices, Apple devices, set-top boxes, game consoles, and the web at tv.apple.com. In addition, TelevisaUnivision, TV Azteca, FOX Sports (FS1), TSN and RDS will be the linear broadcast home for selected group stage matches in Mexico, United States and Canada.
