The 2025 Leagues Cup was the fifth edition of the Leagues Cup, an international club soccer tournament contested by Major League Soccer (MLS) 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 (i.e., all games were MLS vs Liga MX). 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: Greater number of wins in regular time. Greater goal difference. Greater number of goals scored. Fewer number of goals conceded. Fewer points in the team’s Fair Play Table. 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.
+Eastern clubsRank Tier Team League2 Tier 1 Inter Miami CF MLS3 Tier 1 Toluca Liga MX4 Tier 1 Columbus Crew MLS8 Tier 1 Monterrey Liga MX11 Tier 1 FC Cincinnati MLS12 Tier 1 Pumas UNAM Liga MX14 Tier 2 Guadalajara Liga MX16 Tier 2 Orlando City SC MLS18 Tier 2 Charlotte FC MLS19 Tier 2 New York City FC MLS27 Tier 2 León Liga MX28 Tier 2 Necaxa Liga MX22 Tier 3 New York Red Bulls MLS25 Tier 3 CF Montréal MLS29 Tier 3 Atlanta United FC MLS30 Tier 3 Atlas Liga MX32 Tier 3 Juárez Liga MX35 Tier 3 Puebla Liga MX
+Western clubsRank Tier Team League1 Tier 1 Cruz Azul Liga MX5 Tier 1 Tigres UANL Liga MX6 Tier 1 Los Angeles FC MLS7 Tier 1 LA Galaxy MLS9 Tier 1 América Liga MX10 Tier 1 Real Salt Lake MLS13 Tier 2 Seattle Sounders FC MLS15 Tier 2 Houston Dynamo FC MLS17 Tier 2 Minnesota United FC MLS23 Tier 2 Atlético San Luis Liga MX24 Tier 2 Tijuana Liga MX26 Tier 2 Pachuca Liga MX20 Tier 3 Colorado Rapids MLS21 Tier 3 Portland Timbers MLS31 Tier 3 Querétaro Liga MX33 Tier 3 Mazatlán Liga MX34 Tier 3 Santos Laguna Liga MX36 Tier 3 San Diego FC MLS
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. +Eastern 1 Tier Team League 1 Toluca Liga MX 1 Columbus Crew MLS 2 New York City FC MLS 2 León Liga MX 3 CF Montréal MLS 3 Puebla Liga MX
+Eastern 2 Tier Team League 1 Inter Miami CF MLS 1 Pumas UNAM Liga MX 2 Orlando City SC MLS 2 Necaxa Liga MX 3 Atlanta United FC MLS 3 Atlas Liga MX
+Eastern 3 Tier Team League 1 Monterrey Liga MX 1 FC Cincinnati MLS 2 Guadalajara Liga MX 2 Charlotte FC MLS 3 New York Red Bulls MLS 3 Juárez Liga MX
+Western 1 Tier Team League 1 Tigres UANL Liga MX 1 Los Angeles FC MLS 2 Houston Dynamo FC MLS 2 Pachuca Liga MX 3 Mazatlán Liga MX 3 San Diego FC MLS
+Western 2 Tier Team League 1 América Liga MX 1 Real Salt Lake MLS 2 Minnesota United FC MLS 2 Atlético San Luis Liga MX 3 Portland Timbers MLS 3 Querétaro Liga MX
+Western 3 Tier Team League 1 Cruz Azul Liga MX 1 LA Galaxy MLS 2 Seattle Sounders FC MLS 2 Tijuana Liga MX 3 Colorado Rapids MLS 3 Santos Laguna Liga MX
Round dates The schedule of the competition was as follows.
+Schedule for 2025 Leagues CupPhaseRoundDateLeague stageMatchday 1July 29–31Matchday 2August 1–3Matchday 3August 5–7Knockout stageQuarterfinals August 20Semifinals August 27Third place playoffAugust 31Final
League phase
Table Liga MX See above for tie-breaking criteria. Major League Soccer See above for tie-breaking criteria.
Results
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
Bracket
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
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.
Statistics Top goalscorers
RankPlayerTeamTotal1 Ángel Correa Tigres UANL22152 Osaze De Rosario Seattle Sounders FC111 14 Martín Ojeda Orlando City SC121 Joseph Paintsil LA Galaxy211 Paulinho Toluca2116 Tomás Badaloni Necaxa213 Adalberto Carrasquilla Pumas UNAM12 Pedro de la Vega Seattle Sounders FC21 David Martínez Los Angeles FC12 Luis Muriel Orlando City SC3 Matheus Nascimento LA Galaxy12 Rafael Navarro Colorado Rapids21 Braian Ojeda Real Salt Lake21 Marco Reus LA Galaxy111 Telasco Segovia Inter Miami CF111 Luis Suárez Inter Miami CF12
References
External links