Sporting KC to play Chivas Guadalajara and FC Cincinnati in Leagues Cup 2023 Group Stage

The Leagues Cup 2023 groups are based on clubs’ 2022 performance along with their geographic regions. The 15 groups will be broken up into four regions: West (three groups), Central (four groups), South (four groups) and East (four groups).

The top 15 MLS clubs – excluding MLS Cup champion LAFC who qualifies directly into the Round of 32 – have been placed in their corresponding geographic region first, and then based on their position in the final 2022 Supporters’ Shield standings. The top 15 LIGA MX teams, based on the combined Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2022 standings – excluding Pachuca, who received a bye as the LIGA MX champion with the most combined points accumulated across both seasons in 2022 – have been paired in reverse order with the top 15 MLS clubs.

Continuing with the competitive balance criteria, the remaining 13 MLS clubs – including Sporting Kansas City – have been placed in groups, again based first on their geographic region and then based on their position in the final 2022 Supporters’ Shield standings. 

Every team will play two matches in the Group Stage with the top two teams from each group, as determined by points, advancing to the Round of 32 in the Knockout Stage. Regulation wins will earn three points and each team will receive one point if the game is tied after 90 minutes, however no matches in the Group Stage will end in a tie. If a game is tied after 90 minutes, the game will proceed to a penalty shootout and the winner of the shootout will earn an additional point.

Beginning this year, MLS and LIGA MX will pause their respective league seasons each summer and all 47 first division clubs in Mexico, the United States and Canada will compete in the tournament. The inaugural Leagues Cup will consist of 77 matches played across the U.S. and Canada.

Fans around the world will be able to watch Leagues Cup on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app, which is available on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices from Roku, Amazon, and Google, game consoles and the web at tv.apple.com. In addition, TelevisaUnivision and FOX Sports will be the linear broadcast home for select matches in Leagues Cup, headlined by the tournament final airing in Spanish on Univision.