2025 Leagues Cup

True if not for talking a Preseason tournament?

 

Yea, I'm still for Liga MX vs.MLS. If anything I rather see CPL have teams join in 2027. The problem with South America is the distance. Flying LA to London would be about the same as New York to Buenos Aires. Until you get Super Sonic commercial passenger jets which are being developed as we speak, it would be hard to do.

 

Hmmmmm....... I'm sure some of the centralization ideas are coming as a result of their relationship with MLS:

Mexico federation commissioner resigns amid talks for $1.25 billion Liga MX investment

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_...ssioner-resigns-amid-talks-liga-mx-investment

 

Liga MX commissioner says they will no longer interrupt the Liga MX season for leagues cup https://t.co/RSIKd8AJy8

— MLS Moves (@MLSMoves) December 16, 2024

 

Midweek games. That means MLS isn't stopping either.

 

Could see this tournament get shrunk down again to something like 4 teams from each league.

 

If the rumor of reducing to 36 teams is true, they should do straight knockout on a few designated midweek dates. Maybe keep the final on the weekend by rescheduling the teams' league games, which is how the final worked the last two years anyway.

 

Liga MX Commissioner Mikel Arriola: "We have just approved the new Leagues Cup format... We are no longer going to concentrate there, we are going to play during the week... we are not going to interrupt the Liga MX, fortunately, because the request of the clubs was very clear." pic.twitter.com/mzjRlAxJR1

— Ben Wright (@benwright) December 16, 2024

 

Liga MX Commissioner Mikel Arriola confirms some changes to Leagues Cup:

"We just approved the new format for the Leagues Cup. We will no longer solely focus on that. Matches will be played midweek so that Mexican teams don’t have to spend many days abroad.

Games (Liga MX… pic.twitter.com/dvXhX0Hfrm

— José Roberto Nuñez (@JoserNunez91) December 16, 2024

 

This was going to be the only way it got smaller, Mexican teams saying they don't want to.

 

I guess DC United will be flogging more bogus friendlies in their STH packages next season with no Leagues Cup and no Open Cup.

Thx,

Jay!

 

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/42994380/leagues-cup-scraps-pause-mls-liga-mx-seasons
All 18 Liga MX teams will play. MLS still hasn't announced who will yet.

 

They can do it all in 6 games max with 36 teams. 5 mid week games and the final on a weekend.

First round - bottom 4 of each league. Winners move on to meet the other 28

From there just KO style; R32, R16, QF, SF and Final.

 

Probably play the Championship on a Sunday with both leagues not scheduling games for that day.

 

Not bad, how's the bracket going to look though? I'm sure in a perfect world they want MLS #1 going against LigaMX #1 in the final, but they also want as many cross league matchups I'd imagine.

 

Philly claimed they weren't in Leagues Cup so I'm guessing the 18 from MLS would be the top 18 from the SS standings. And if you exclude Miami and Seattle cause of their participation in CWC that would be 1-20 from SS standings. So if it were up to me and basing it off just the current aggregate table of Liga MX I would do this;

1) #15 Puebla vs #20 Atlanta United
2) #16 Pachuca vs #19 FC Dallas
3) #17 Queretaro vs #18 Austin FC
4) #18 Santos vs #17Montréal

#1 winner vs LA Galaxy (MLS champion)
#2 winner vs Columbus Crew (highest SS)
#3 winner vs America (Liga MX champion)
#4 winner vs Cruz Azul (highest aggregate)

and the rest from highest to lowest LMX vs MLS
Toluca vs RBNY
Tigres vs Portland
Pumas vs Vancouver
Monterrey vs NYCFC
Atletico San Luis vs Colorado Rapids
Tijuana vs Charlotte
Chivas vs Minnesota
Atlas vs Orlando
Leon vs Houston Dynamo
Juarez vs RSL
Necaxa vs FC Cincinnati
Mazatlan vs LAFC

 

It'll likely be Union 2 in the USOC.

 

A marginal improvement but it sounds like Liga MX will still be doing all the traveling.

Without a full break you could also see some teams (in both leagues) prioritise domestic league play. Especially elite Liga MX clubs which may have already secured their CCC spot heading into the Leagues Cup.

 

Mark your calendars! We have the dates for #LeaguesCup2025 👀

📅 July 29-August 31, 2025
⚽️ Matches will take place during @LigaBBVAMX & @MLS regular seasons

¡No te lo pierdas!

— Leagues Cup (@LeaguesCup) December 16, 2024

 

Hopefully this revamp makes the tournament more enjoyable this year. The league already took a huge step forward by de-emphasizing the USOC after over two decades of irrelevance. Now if we can make the other regular season distraction more enjoyable, things are looking up!

 

Unless they somehow make the prizes for this tournament simply irresistible we will for sure be seeing less than then best lineup.

 

Starting on July 29, a Tuesday, that leaves room for five consecutive midweek knockout rounds and then a final on Sunday, August 31. That's a brutal schedule if the leagues are also playing full slates on the weekends.

 

The whole thing squeezed into about a month? Sounds like a lot of back and forth international travel for any Liga MX club that has a deep run.