2025 Leagues Cup


The 2025 Leagues Cup was the fifth edition of the Leagues Cup, an international club soccer tournament contested by Major League Soccer and Liga MX clubs in North America. It was held from July 29 to August 31, 2025, and featured 36 teams. Unlike the previous editions, only the top 18 MLS teams from the 2024 season qualified for the tournament. All 18 Liga MX clubs participated.
Seattle Sounders FC won their first Leagues Cup title by defeating Inter Miami CF 3–0 in the final. The match, played at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington, set a tournament record for attendance with 69,314 spectators.

Format

The tournament consisted of a group stage, known as "Phase One", and a knockout phase. During phase one, teams played three games against teams in the other league. The top four teams from each league advanced to the knockout stage, which consisted of the quarterfinals, semifinals and a final. Like previous editions of the Leagues Cup, the top three clubs qualified for the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
In Phase One, teams earned three points for a win in regulation, two points for a win in a penalty shoot-out, or one point for a loss in a penalty shoot-out. In the event two or more teams ended the group stage tied on points, these tiebreakers in order were used for ranking:

  1. Greater number of wins in regular time.
  2. Greater goal difference.
  3. Greater number of goals scored.
  4. Fewer number of goals conceded.
  5. Fewer points in the team’s Fair Play Table.
  6. A draw organized by the Organizing Committee.

Teams

Thirty-six teams participated in the Leagues Cup, including all 18 Liga MX teams and 18 out of 30 MLS teams. The 18 MLS teams qualified for Leagues Cup by reaching the 2024 MLS Cup playoffs, with one exception: San Diego FC replaced Vancouver Whitecaps FC, who did not participate because they were competing in two other cup competitions in 2025.

Draw

To determine matchups, all teams were placed into a combined ranking that used the 2024 Supporters' Shield table for MLS teams and the most recent 34 matches in the 2024 Clausura and Apertura seasons for Liga MX teams. These teams were then divided into an East region and a West region based on geographical and performance criteria. Within each region, teams were assigned to tiers based on the combined ranking, with the restriction that each tier included three teams from each league.
RankTierTeamLeague
2Tier 1Inter Miami CFMLS
3Tier 1TolucaLiga MX
4Tier 1Columbus CrewMLS
8Tier 1MonterreyLiga MX
11Tier 1FC CincinnatiMLS
12Tier 1UNAMLiga MX
14Tier 2GuadalajaraLiga MX
16Tier 2Orlando City SCMLS
18Tier 2Charlotte FCMLS
19Tier 2New York City FCMLS
27Tier 2LeónLiga MX
28Tier 2NecaxaLiga MX
22Tier 3New York Red BullsMLS
25Tier 3CF MontréalMLS
29Tier 3Atlanta United FCMLS
30Tier 3AtlasLiga MX
32Tier 3JuárezLiga MX
35Tier 3PueblaLiga MX

RankTierTeamLeague
1Tier 1Cruz AzulLiga MX
5Tier 1UANLLiga MX
6Tier 1Los Angeles FCMLS
7Tier 1LA GalaxyMLS
9Tier 1AméricaLiga MX
10Tier 1Real Salt LakeMLS
13Tier 2Seattle Sounders FCMLS
15Tier 2Houston Dynamo FCMLS
17Tier 2Minnesota United FCMLS
23Tier 2Atlético San LuisLiga MX
24Tier 2TijuanaLiga MX
26Tier 2PachucaLiga MX
20Tier 3Colorado RapidsMLS
21Tier 3Portland TimbersMLS
31Tier 3QuerétaroLiga MX
33Tier 3MazatlánLiga MX
34Tier 3Santos LagunaLiga MX
36Tier 3San Diego FCMLS

Sets

Finally, six "sets" were formed by drawing one team per league from each of the three tiers of a region. Teams played three matches against teams from their set who were not from their league.
TierTeamLeague
1TolucaLiga MX
1Columbus CrewMLS
2New York City FCMLS
2LeónLiga MX
3CF MontréalMLS
3PueblaLiga MX

TierTeamLeague
1Inter Miami CFMLS
1UNAMLiga MX
2Orlando City SCMLS
2NecaxaLiga MX
3Atlanta United FCMLS
3AtlasLiga MX

TierTeamLeague
1MonterreyLiga MX
1FC CincinnatiMLS
2GuadalajaraLiga MX
2Charlotte FCMLS
3New York Red BullsMLS
3JuárezLiga MX

TierTeamLeague
1UANLLiga MX
1Los Angeles FCMLS
2Houston Dynamo FCMLS
2PachucaLiga MX
3MazatlánLiga MX
3San Diego FCMLS

TierTeamLeague
1AméricaLiga MX
1Real Salt LakeMLS
2Minnesota United FCMLS
2Atlético San LuisLiga MX
3Portland TimbersMLS
3QuerétaroLiga MX

TierTeamLeague
1Cruz AzulLiga MX
1LA GalaxyMLS
2Seattle Sounders FCMLS
2TijuanaLiga MX
3Colorado RapidsMLS
3Santos LagunaLiga MX

Round dates

The schedule of the competition was as follows.
PhaseRoundDate
League stageMatchday 1July 29–31
League stageMatchday 2August 1–3
League stageMatchday 3August 5–7
Knockout stageQuarterfinalsAugust 20
Knockout stageSemifinalsAugust 27
Knockout stageThird place playoffAugust 31
Knockout stageFinalAugust 31

League phase

Table

;Liga MX
See above for tie-breaking criteria.
;Major League Soccer
See above for tie-breaking criteria.

Knockout stage

The quarterfinal pairings were determined as follows:
  • MLS 1 vs Liga MX 4
  • MLS 2 vs Liga MX 3
  • MLS 3 vs Liga MX 2
  • MLS 4 vs Liga MX 1

Third place playoff

The winners of the third place playoff qualified as the last seed to the 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Final

Both clubs that made the final qualified for the 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup, with the winners qualifying directly to the round of 16.