Leagues Cup changes coming in 2025 says Liga MX boss scrapping mid-season break

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The Leagues Cup will undergo drastic changes in 2025, abandoning the previous format where it was played during a month-long mid-season break for MLS and Mexican teams, Liga MX president Mikel Arriola told reporters on Sunday.

Arriola said the competition would remain in a summer slot on the calendar, but insisted before the second leg of the Liga MX final that next season’s Leagues Cup matches would be held on weekdays, with Mexican teams fulfilling their regular domestic weekend schedule. While MLS media communications did not immediately respond to requests for comment, a similar situation appears likely for MLS’ schedule.

“We have just approved the new Leagues Cup format,” Arriola said. “We will no longer hold camps there.”


Mikel Arriola and Club America’s Luis Malagon on Sunday (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

During the fully expanded 2023 and 2024 tournaments, all matches were played in the United States or Canada, while some Liga MX teams set up base camp hubs in various American locations.

“We play in the middle of the week so Mexican teams don’t struggle and Liga MX matches will be played on the weekend,” Arriola continued.

Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami won the 2023 League Cup and the competition provided a memorable backdrop for the Argentine’s first appearance on the pitch since his move, as a superb half-time free-kick secured victory over Cruz Azul in the group stage. Miami would beat Nashville SC in the finals, while the Columbus Crew beat LAFC in the 2024 decider.

ESPN reported that only 18 MLS teams plus the 18 Liga MX teams will participate in 2025. In the past two years, all MLS clubs have participated. MLS will increase from 29 to 30 members in 2025 with the addition of San Diego FC.

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A streamlined field would align with comments made by MLS commissioner Don Garber in his annual address to the league this month.

“We need more MLS versus Liga MX games,” Garber said. “That was really the point of the Leagues Cup in the beginning. We are looking at changes that will make it more focused on what we are trying to achieve, which is this great rivalry between our two leagues.”

(Top photo: Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)