NEW YORK CITY AND MEXICO CITY – The official Leagues Cup 2024 Group Stage schedule and tournament’s hub venues were unveiled today, along with the Bracket Announcement presented by Coors Light. The second edition of this Concacaf-sanctioned competition features all 18 clubs from the Mexican league, LIGA MX, and all 29 clubs from Major League Soccer (MLS) representing the U.S. and Canada. These 47 clubs will compete in a World Cup-style club tournament from July 26 to August 25, 2024.
The San Jose Earthquakes will face LIGA MX side Club Deportivo Guadalajara, also known as Chivas, on Saturday, July 27, at Levi’s Stadium at 7 p.m. PT, before hosting MLS archrivals LA Galaxy on Wednesday, July 31, at PayPal Park at 7:30 p.m. PT. Due to tournament seeding, Chivas will be the home side against San Jose, while the Quakes will play host to the Galaxy.
The momentous match against Chivas, which will mark the Mexican giants’ first-ever trip to the Bay Area for an official game, features global star Javier “Chicharito” Hernández and the much-anticipated return of former MLS All-Star and current U.S. Men’s National team forward Cade Cowell. A Quakes Academy graduate, the 20-year-old made the move to Guadalajara for a club-record multimillion-dollar fee in January after spending his first five seasons as a professional with San Jose (2019-23).
In the second Group Stage game, the Quakes clash with the LA Galaxy in the 102nd California Clásico, where this time, in addition to the usual bragging rights between the in-state nemeses hanging in the balance, a potential trip to the Leagues Cup Round of 32 could very well be on the line.
In last year’s Leagues Cup Group Stage, the Quakes took on fellow MLS side Portland Timbers on the road before facing Tigres UANL of LIGA MX in front of 18,000 fans at a sold-out PayPal Park.
Single-game tickets will be made available to the general public on Wednesday, March 27, at 10 a.m. PT. on Ticketmaster. Earthquakes Season Ticket Holders will have both Group Stage matches as part of their season-ticket package, as well as an exclusive presale for additional tickets beginning on Monday, March 25, at 10 a.m. PT.
Fans can guarantee their seats now and save up to 40 percent by buying season tickets at www.sjearthquakes.com/tickets/seasontickets. Due to the nature of this special matchup, they will also have the option to select seats located in team-specific sections, as designated here. Fans interested in group tickets for either Group Stage game can click here. For general ticket information about the tournament, visit LeaguesCup.com and follow @LeaguesCup on social.
Leagues Cup 2024, to be held in Canada and the United States, will determine three qualifiers for the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup, with the winner of Concacaf Champions Cup representing the region at the FIFA Club World Cup.
Leagues Cup 2024 Group Stage Schedule
The Leagues Cup Group Stage kicks off on Friday, July 26 (5 p.m. PT), between two MLS clubs, Atlanta United FC facing D.C. United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, followed by the first LIGA MX vs. MLS match where Pumas battles Austin FC (6 p.m. PT) at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas, the first in the highly anticipated series of matchups between the two leagues. Also on opening night, LAFC hosts Tijuana at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California (8 p.m. PT), and Seattle Sounders FC takes on Minnesota United FC at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington (7 p.m. PT).
The Leagues Cup reigning champion Inter Miami CF will begin the defense of its title on Saturday, July 27, against Club Puebla at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The Leagues Cup Group Stage will conclude with 15 matches between August 3-6 including exciting cross-league matches such as the highly-awaited Group East 3 match up on Saturday, Aug. 3, where Tigres will host Inter Miami at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas (5 p.m. PT), Monterrey hosts Pumas at Q2 Stadium (7 p.m. PT) and on Sunday, August 4, Chivas hosts LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California (7:30 p.m. PT).
The complete Leagues Cup 2024 Group Stage schedule along with broadcast details can be found here. Advancing teams will compete in the single-game elimination knockout rounds, beginning with the Round of 32 from August 7-9 (16 matches), followed by the Round of 16 from August 12-13 (eight matches). The eight advancing teams will compete in the Leagues Cup Quarterfinals on August 16-17 (four matches), before the two semifinal matches on August 20 or 21.
The Leagues Cup 2024 Final and the Third-Place Match will be played on Saturday, August 25, which will determine the three clubs that will qualify for the 2025 Concacaf Champions League. The game times and broadcast details for the elimination rounds and Finals will be announced once the matchups are known.
Leagues Cup 2024 Bracket and Venues
As part of today’s Leagues Cup 2024 Bracket Announcement presented by Coors Light, the official tournament bracket – which confirms the East and West region matchups and pathway to the grand final - can be downloaded here.
As previously announced, Leagues Cup 2024 introduced a tournament ranking system and hub privileges for the highest-ranked LIGA MX clubs. The Leagues Cup ranking is based on combined MLS and LIGA MX club performance in the last 34 regular season matches. MLS teams are ranked based on the 2023 MLS Supporters’ Shield standings, while LIGA MX clubs are 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, 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 in the West, to regionalize travel for all participating clubs. Both LIGA MX and MLS Cup champions, Club America and Columbus Crew respectively, receive automatic byes to the Round of 32.
The LIGA MX Champion and the three top-ranked LIGA MX clubs will be granted hub privileges. The cities and venues, which minimize travel and rewards the Mexican clubs by playing in pre-determined locations, are as follows:
- Club America (LIGA MX league champion and No. 1 rank) will have hub privileges through the Semifinals in California. Club America will debut at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on August 9.
- C.F. Monterrey (No. 2 rank) will have hub privileges in Texas through the Round of 16, including both group stage matches against Austin FC and Pumas hosted at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas.
- Chivas Guadalajara (ranked No. 5) will have hub privileges through the Round of 32 in California, including Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Saturday, July 27, against the San Jose Earthquakes and at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson against LA Galaxy on Sunday, August 4.
- Tigres UANL (No. 8 rank) will have hub privileges throughout the Group Stage in Texas. Tigres will debut at Shell Energy on July 31, against Puebla and have their second game at NRG Stadium against Inter Miami CF on August 3. Tickets to the NRG Stadium match will be on sale on Tuesday, March 26.
- Tickets for all matches will be available on LeaguesCup.com.
Also announced today, Columbus Crew and Club America, the respective MLS Cup and LIGA MX reigning champions, have learned their Round of 32 schedule. Columbus Crew begin their run on Thursday, August 8, hosting the second-place finisher in Group West 4 at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio (4:30 p.m. PT), while Club America will make its knockout stage appearance on Friday, August 9, hosting the second-place finisher in Group West 8 at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California (7 p.m. PT). For more information about the format, ranking and groups, further details can be found at LeaguesCup.com.
Fans in over 100 countries and regions – including Canada, Mexico and the United States - will be able to watch all 77 Leagues Cup matches on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV , the subscription service from Apple and Major League Soccer. MLS Season Pass is available on billions of devices through the Apple TV app on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, set-top boxes, and game consoles, as well as on the web at tv.apple.com. Fans can also access MLS Season Pass from the Apple TV app on Apple Vision Pro for an even more immersive viewing experience. In addition, TelevisaUnivision, TV Azteca, FOX Sports (FS1), TSN and RDS will be the linear broadcast home for selected matches in Mexico, United States and Canada.
ABOUT LEAGUES CUP
Leagues Cup represents a monumental new chapter for North American soccer. Since 2023, Major League Soccer and LIGA MX pause their regular seasons each summer and all 47 first division professional clubs in the U.S., Mexico and Canada will compete in the World Cup-style, official Concacaf sanctioned tournament, which will qualify the top three finishers to the Concacaf Champions Cup. In 2023, MLS’ Inter Miami CF became the first-ever Leagues Cup champion, with Lionel Messi earning the Best Player Award.
Leagues Cup 2024 will kick off Friday, July 26, and will feature 77 games hosted at stadiums throughout the U.S. and Canada, with the Final taking place on Sunday, August 25. Fans in over 100 countries and regions will be able to watch Leagues Cup on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app, which is available on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices from Roku, Amazon, and Google, game consoles, and the web at tv.apple.com. In addition, TV Azteca, TelevisaUnivision, FOX Sports, TSN and RDS will be the linear broadcast home for select Leagues Cup matches in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
