What is Leagues Cup? Explaining MLS vs. Liga MX World Cup-style tournament

The burgeoning bromance between North America's top two professional soccer leagues takes a massive step with this year's edition of the Leagues Cup.

Previously played as a cozy, eight-team tournament, the Leagues Cup evolves into a bombastic 47-team competition this year, featuring every Major League Soccer and Liga MX club. Both leagues will halt regular-season play for a month to complete the World Cup-style tournament.

The expanded Leagues Cup is just the latest step in the MLS and Liga MX partnership, which included two joint All-Star games (2021 and 2022) and the Campeones Cup, the annual showdown of reigning champions from each league (this year it will feature LAFC against Tigres Sept. 27 at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles).

MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+ will broadcast the tournament.

What is the Leagues Cup?

The Leagues Cup has been held twice before (2019 and 2021) with limited participation from MLS and Liga MX teams. This year, every team from both leagues will take part in the tournament.

The 29 MLS and 18 Liga MX clubs were divided into 15 groups in four regions: East, Central, South and West. The group stage starts July 21 and continues until July 31. The top two finishing teams from each group − with the exception of Group 1 in the South Region − will advance to the single-elimination knockout rounds, which start Aug. 2. The final will be held Aug. 19.

Los Angeles FC − the 2022 MLS Cup champion − and Pachuca − the Liga MX champion with the most combined points accumulated across the Clausura and Apertura seasons in the 2022 calendar year − earned byes for the group stage and will enter the competition during the knockout stage.

Automatic qualification to the Round of 16 of the Concacaf Champions League goes to the tournament winner. The Leagues Cup runner-up as well as the third-place match winner qualify for the Concacaf Champions League.

Will Lionel Messi play in the Leagues Cup?

Lionel Messi, who finally signed with Inter Miami CF and was introduced to his new home crowd in the rain at DRV PNK Stadium on Sunday night, will debut with his new team in the 2023 Leagues Cup.

The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner revealed last month he would play in the U.S. for David Beckham's MLS club, but the deal wasn't finalized for weeks.

Leagues Cup group stage will have no ties

A victory in regulation will count as three points. For games tied after 90 minutes, each team will receive one point and the winner of the subsequent penalty shootout will earn an additional point.

Where will the 2023 Leagues Cup be played?

All 77 matches will be held either in the U.S. or Canada.

Starting with the Round of 16, matches between two MLS clubs will be hosted by the club with the better finish in the 2022 Supporters' Shield standings. Matches between two Liga MX clubs will be hosted at a venue designated by the tournament's organizing committee.

Here is the pool of regional venues for matches between two Liga MX clubs during the knockout rounds:

• East: Red Bull Arena (Harrison, N.J.), Subaru Park (Chester, Pennsylvania), Audi Field (Washington, D.C.)

• Central: SeatGeek Stadium (Bridgeview, Illinois), Toyota Stadium (Frisco, Texas), DICK’S Sporting Goods Park (Commerce City, Colorado), Shell Energy Stadium (Houston)

• South: Q2 Stadium (Austin, Texas), Toyota Stadium (Frisco, Texas), Exploria Stadium (Orlando, Florida)

• West: BMO Stadium (Los Angeles), Dignity Health Sports Park (Carson, California), America First Field (Salt Lake City), PayPal Park (San Jose, California)

Knockout round match locations and kickoff times will be announced at the conclusion of the group stage.

How do you qualify for the Leagues Cup?

Every MLS and Liga MX team qualified for the 2023 Leagues Cup. However, teams were seeded based on previous seasons' standings. MLS clubs ranked 2 to 16 based on 2022 Supporters’ Shield finish were seeded first in each group. Liga MX clubs ranked 2 to 16 based on total combined points from Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2022 campaigns will be in the second position in each group, opposite the MLS rankings (for example, Liga MX's 16 seed − Tijuana − was placed in a group with the MLS 2 seed − Philadelphia Union).

How were clubs seeded for 2023 Leagues Cup?

MLS seeds

Bye: Los Angeles FC

1. Philadelphia Union

2. CF Montréal

3. Austin FC

4. New York City FC

5. New York Red Bulls

6. FC Dallas

7. Los Angeles Galaxy

8. Nashville SC

9. FC Cincinnati

10. Minnesota United FC

11. Inter Miami CF

12. Orlando City SC

13. Real Salt Lake

14. Portland Timbers

15. Columbus Crew

Unseeded: Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Colorado Rapids, Charlotte FC, New England Revolution, Seattle Sounders FC, Sporting Kansas City, Atlanta United, Chicago Fire FC, Houston Dynamo FC, San Jose Earthquakes, Toronto Fc, D.C. United, St. Louis City SC

Liga MX seeds

Bye: Pachuca

1. Club América

2. Tigres UANL

3. CF Monterrey

4. Santos Laguna

5. Cruz Azul

6. Club Puebla

7. Chivas Guadalajara

8. Toluca

9. Club León

10. Necaxa

11. Atlético San Luis

12. Atlas

13. Mazatlán

14. UNAM Pumas

15. Tijuana

Unseeded: Juárez, Querétaro

Previous League Cup finals

• 2021: Club León over Seattle Sounders FC, 3-2

• 2019: Cruz Azul over UANL Tigres, 2-1

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Leagues Cup 2023: MLS vs. Liga MX World Cup-style tournament explainer