The 2026 Leagues Cup was the sixth 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 August 4 to September 6, featuring 36 teams. Like the 2025 edition, only the top 18 MLS teams from the 2025 season qualified for the tournament. All 18 Liga MX clubs participated.
Seattle Sounders FC were the defending champions, having won their first Leagues Cup title by defeating Inter Miami CF 3–0 in the 2025 final. This was the first edition of the tournament to feature games hosted in Mexico, with four matches in Phase One being played in the country.
Toluca won their first Leagues Cup title by defeating Monterrey 2–0 in the final.
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 quarterfinals, semifinals and a final. Like previous editions of the Leagues Cup, the top three clubs qualified for the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
The 2026 tournament followed the same format as the 2025 tournament. 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 goal difference. Greater number of wins in regular time. 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 2025 MLS Cup playoffs.
Draw To determine matchups, all teams were placed into a combined ranking that used the 2025 Supporters' Shield table for MLS teams and the most recent 34 matches in the 2025 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 League4 Tier 1 Cruz Azul Liga MX5 Tier 1 Philadelphia Union MLS6 Tier 1 FC Cincinnati MLS7 Tier 1 Inter Miami CF MLS11 Tier 1 Monterrey Liga MX20 Tier 1 Pachuca Liga MX12 Tier 2 Charlotte FC MLS14 Tier 2 New York City FC MLS16 Tier 2 Nashville SC MLS22 Tier 2 Necaxa Liga MX28 Tier 2 León Liga MX29 Tier 2 Pumas UNAM Liga MX17 Tier 3 Columbus Crew MLS18 Tier 3 Chicago Fire FC MLS19 Tier 3 Orlando City SC MLS32 Tier 3 Atlas Liga MX33 Tier 3 Atlético San Luis Liga MX35 Tier 3 Santos Laguna Liga MX
+Western clubsRank Tier Team League1 Tier 1 Toluca Liga MX2 Tier 1 Tigres UANL Liga MX3 Tier 1 América Liga MX8 Tier 1 San Diego FC MLS9 Tier 1 Vancouver Whitecaps FC MLS10 Tier 1 Los Angeles FC MLS13 Tier 2 Minnesota United FC MLS15 Tier 2 Seattle Sounders FC MLS21 Tier 2 Guadalajara Liga MX23 Tier 2 Juárez Liga MX24 Tier 2 Austin FC MLS27 Tier 2 Tijuana Liga MX25 Tier 3 FC Dallas MLS26 Tier 3 Portland Timbers MLS30 Tier 3 Real Salt Lake MLS31 Tier 3 Querétaro Liga MX34 Tier 3 Atlante Liga MX36 Tier 3 Puebla Liga MX
Regional groupings Finally, six "regional groupings" 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 FC Cincinnati MLS 1 Pachuca Liga MX 2 Charlotte FC MLS 2 Pumas UNAM Liga MX 3 Columbus Crew MLS 3 Atlas Liga MX
+Eastern 2 Tier Team League 1 Inter Miami CF MLS 1 Monterrey Liga MX 2 Nashville SC MLS 2 León Liga MX 3 Orlando City SC MLS 3 Atlético San Luis Liga MX
+Eastern 3 Tier Team League 1 Cruz Azul Liga MX 1 Philadelphia Union MLS 2 New York City FC MLS 2 Necaxa Liga MX 3 Chicago Fire FC MLS 3 Santos Laguna Liga MX
+Western 1 Tier Team League 1 Tigres UANL Liga MX 1 Vancouver Whitecaps FC MLS 2 Minnesota United FC MLS 2 Juárez Liga MX 3 Real Salt Lake MLS 3 Atlante Liga MX
+Western 2 Tier Team League 1 Toluca Liga MX 1 Los Angeles FC MLS 2 Seattle Sounders FC MLS 2 Guadalajara Liga MX 3 FC Dallas MLS 3 Querétaro Liga MX
+Western 3 Tier Team League 1 América Liga MX 1 San Diego FC MLS 2 Austin FC MLS 2 Tijuana Liga MX 3 Portland Timbers MLS 3 Puebla Liga MX
Round dates The schedule of the competition was as follows.
+Schedule for 2026 Leagues CupPhaseRoundDateLeague stageMatchday 1August 4–6Matchday 2August 7–9Matchday 3August 11–13Knockout stageQuarterfinals August 25–27Semifinals September 1–2Third place playoffSeptember 6Final
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: Liga MX 1 vs MLS 4 Liga MX 3 vs MLS 2 Liga MX 4 vs MLS 1 Liga MX 2 vs MLS 3
Bracket
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Third place playoff The winners of the third place playoff qualified as the last seed to the 2027 CONCACAF Champions Cup.
Final
Both clubs that made the final qualified for the 2027 CONCACAF Champions Cup, with the winners qualifying directly to the round of 16.
Statistics Top goalscorers
RankPlayerTeamTotal1 Daniel Arcila León1124 Myrto Uzuni Austin FC313 Diber Cambindo León213 Hugo Cuypers Monterrey111 Helinho Toluca11 1 Ariel Lassiter Portland Timbers21 Brian Rodríguez América111 Federico Viñas Toluca111 924 players2
References
External links