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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 July 2019 with four teams from both leagues participating. The first edition was a single-elimination tournament hosted in the United States with a final played in Whitney, Nevada, near Las Vegas, on September 18, 2019.
In 2023, the tournament was expanded to include all clubs from MLS and Liga MX, and now functions as a regional cup for CONCACAF between the top division leagues in Mexico and United States, and includes MLS teams that are based in Canada. The top three Leagues Cup teams, regardless of nation, qualify for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, with the champions receiving a bye to the round of 16. In 2025, the tournament contracted to only include the 18 best MLS clubs and all clubs from Liga MX.
The Leagues Cup tournament was announced on May 29, 2019, featuring eight teams in its inaugural edition to be played during the summer. The announcement of the tournament was panned by soccer critics in the United States, who called it a meaningless friendly and "cash-grab" for American clubs. The MLS Players Association also expressed concerns over the tournament's creation on the basis of schedule congestion during the summertime. Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada was later announced as the host venue for the final and a broadcasting contract for the tournament was awarded to ESPN and TUDN (formerly Univision Deportes Network). This event was also televised on TSN and TVA Sports in Canada and Televisa in Mexico.
In July 2019, MLS and Liga MX announced that the second edition of the Leagues Cup in 2020 would feature 16 teams—eight from each league. The MLS participants would be drawn from the top four teams in each conference that do not qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League; the Liga MX participants would include the 2019 Apertura champion, 2020 Clausura champion, the 2019–20 Copa MX champion, and the next five best-placed teams in the 2019-20 season aggregate table the league. The tournament was canceled on May 19, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The eight-team format debuted in the 2021 Leagues Cup, which was played in August and September. In the final at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, Mexican club León defeated Seattle Sounders FC, the first American finalist in the competition's history.
On April 14, 2022, MLS and Liga MX announced the 2022 Leagues Cup Showcase, which was held starting August 3, 2022, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The event included a doubleheader of matches: LA Galaxy against C.D. Guadalajara and Los Angeles FC against Club América. On June 30, 2022, it was announced that the Leagues Cup Showcase was expanded to include three more matches—FC Cincinnati against C.D. Guadalajara at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio; Nashville SC against Club América at Geodis Park in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 21; and Real Salt Lake against Atlas F.C. at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, on September 22. The events served as a one-time replacement of the previously planned 2022 Leagues Cup which was not held due to fixture congestion from the 2022 FIFA World Cup and other factors.
The Leagues Cup was expanded in 2023 to include all MLS and Liga MX clubs, during a month-long pause in their respective seasons. It also became a qualification tournament for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup with three berths for teams from North America. The Leagues Cup champion qualified directly to the round of 16, while the runner-up and third-place finisher earned round one berths. Inter Miami CF won the first edition of the expanded tournament in 2023, led by top goalscorer Lionel Messi.
On January 28, 2025, Major League Soccer announced that they would only send 18 representatives to the Leagues Cup for 2025 as part of their new competition guidelines, which only allowed teams to play in at most two cup competitions. Most of the teams in the 2024 MLS Cup playoffs qualified for Leagues Cup; the Vancouver Whitecaps, as winners of the 2024 Canadian Championship, had their place forfeited and given to expansion club San Diego FC.
For the 2022 season, an official tournament was not held due to fixture congestion from the 2022 FIFA World Cup, among other factors.
For the 2023 and 2024 editions, the Leagues Cup included all MLS and Liga MX teams—47 teams in total with 77 matches hosted in Canada and the United States. The top 15 teams from each league were seeded into 15 groups based on their league standings from the previous season, while the remaining teams were drawn based on geographic proximity. The group stage had three matches in a round-robin format and the top two teams qualified for the knockout stage. Two teams receive byes to the knockout stage: the reigning MLS Cup champion and highest-ranked Liga MX champion from either the previous Apertura and Clausura. The knockout stage was single-elimination on a fixed bracket.
For the 2025 season, the Leagues Cup will only include 18 out of the 30 MLS teams (those who qualified for the MLS Cup playoffs in most instances), as well as all Liga MX teams, for a total of 36 participants. The MLS and Liga MX teams will be separated into their own separate groups of 18 and play three games against teams from the other league. The top four teams in each group will advance to the knockout stage, where the quarter-finals are guaranteed to be MLS vs Liga MX like in the group stage. All games are again held in Canada and the United States, but unlike the past two years, the competition also takes place during the MLS and Liga MX seasons.
| 2019 | Cruz Azul | 2–1 | Tigres UANL | Whitney, Nevada | 20,132 | |
| 2020 | ||||||
| 2021 | León | 3–2 | Seattle Sounders FC | Paradise, Nevada | 24,824 | |
| 2022 | ||||||
| 2023 | Inter Miami CF | 1–1 | Nashville SC | Geodis Park | Nashville, Tennessee | 30,109 |
| 2024 | Columbus Crew | 3–1 | Los Angeles FC | Lower.com Field | Columbus, Ohio | 20,190 |
| 2023 | Philadelphia Union | 3–0 | Monterrey | Subaru Park | Chester, Pennsylvania | 17,731 |
| 2024 | Colorado Rapids | 2–2 | Philadelphia Union | Subaru Park | Chester, Pennsylvania | 8,417 |
| Cruz Azul | 1 (2019) | |||
| León | 1 (2021) | |||
| Inter Miami CF | 1 (2023) | |||
| Columbus Crew | 1 (2024) | |||
| Tigres UANL | 1 (2019) | |||
| Seattle Sounders FC | 1 (2021) | |||
| Nashville SC | 1 (2023) | |||
| Los Angeles FC | 1 (2024) | |||
| Philadelphia Union | 1 (2023) | 1 (2024) | ||
| Colorado Rapids | 1 (2024) | |||
| Monterrey | 1 (2023) |
| 8 |
| 4 |
| 0 |
The third place play-off was added in 2023.
| Tai Baribo | Philadelphia Union |
| Cucho Hernández | Columbus Crew |
| Diego Rossi | Columbus Crew |
| Germán Berterame | Monterrey |
| Santiago Rodríguez | New York City FC |
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