Schedule, Teams Qualified and Bracket

The second edition of Leagues Cup has reached the quarterfinal round with eight teams left standing in a quest for silverware and the title of the best team between North America’s two biggest leagues:

MLS

and Liga MX.

The competition started with every club from MLS and Liga MX — 47 teams in total — and teams have gradually been eliminated along the way in the group stage, in the Round of 32 and in the Round of 16.

Among the clubs that have advanced to the elite eight are three of the top MLS clubs in the Columbus Crew, the Philadelphia Union, and the Seattle Sounders, who will all host their respective quarterfinal matches.

The 2024 tournament will crown a new champion after holders

Inter Miami

(photo below with 2023 Leagues Cup trophy) were knocked out in the Round of 16 by the Columbus Crew, who prevailed with a thrilling comeback from 2-0 down.

In addition to silverware and prize money, Leagues Cup will award the top three finishers with a berth in next season’s CONCACAF Champions Cup, a competition which crowns the best club in all of North America, including Central America and the Caribbean.

2024 Leagues Cup Quarterfinals Schedule

Every QF match will take place on Saturday, August 17

Below is the updated schedule and confirmed matchups for the 2024 Leagues Cup quarterfinals. All matches will be available to stream via MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

The host for each quarterfinal is determined by the following criteria, which were established prior to the tournament and outlined in the official Leagues Cup regulations:

• Columbus Crew: Reigning MLS champion Columbus Crew automatically host in every round, including the final;
• Club America: Reigning Liga MLS champions Club America automatically host in every round in their designated U.S. hub through to the semis;
• MLS vs. Liga MX matchups: The MLS club automatically hosts;
• MLS vs. MLS matchups: The MLS club with the best ranking in the 2023 Supporters’ Shield standings will host.

Below is a short breakdown of each of the quarterfinal matches.

Columbus Crew vs NYCFC

The 2023 MLS champions will host the 2021 MLS champions in what should prove to be an entertaining Leagues Cup quarterfinal showdown.

These two teams currently sit in 3rd place (Columbus) and 5th place (NYCFC) in the Eastern Conference standings, and they’ve already played in a high-scoring affair in MLS play. Columbus went into Yankee Stadium on June 14 and claimed a 3-2 win (highlights below), overcoming a first-half deficit. But NYCFC were also reduced to 10 men for more than half the match.

Columbus and NYCFC will meet again in the MLS regular season on August 31, also at Lower.com Field.

Philadelphia Union vs Mazatlan

With a victory on their home turf at Subaru Park, the Philadelphia Union would advance to their second straight Leagues Cup semifinal. In 2023, the Union lost to Inter Miami in the semis, but they recovered to win the third-place match and clinched a spot in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

A Leagues Cup trophy would give Philly something to celebrate in the midst of a difficult 2024 season, which sees Jim Curtin’s men in 10th place in the East, sunk by a desolate stretch of one win in 17 MLS matches. But the Union are still in the running to qualify for the playoffs.

Mazatlan are one of the surprise teams in the 2024 Leagues Cup given they started with shutout losses in three of four Liga MX regular season matches. But they have found success in this knockout competition under veteran manager Victor Manuel Vucetich, who took over the side after Mazatlan failed to reach the Liga MX playoffs in the previous campaign.

This will be the first-ever meeting between Philadelphia and Mazatlan. Among the recognizable names in the Mazatlan squad are former U.S. international Ventura Alvarado, ex-Minnesota United forward Luis Amarilla, and skillful Panamanian international Edgar Barcenas, who has a team-leading two goals in the tournament.

Seattle vs LAFC

These two teams are established MLS rivals from their memorable head-to-head matchups in the Western Conference and the MLS playoffs. LAFC have the edge with an 11W-5L-4D record in all competitions, including two victories in MLS play this season. In fact, LAFC are one of only three teams to defeat Seattle on its home turf in 2024 with an emphatic 3-0 triumph on July 20 (highlights below). These two teams are also set to meet in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals on Aug. 28 at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Wash.

There are 10 points currently separating these two teams in the Western Conference standings, with LAFC in 2nd place and Seattle down in 7th place. LAFC are in contention for the Supporters’ Shield for the best regular season record in MLS — one of four trophies they are chasing this season with star forward Olivier Giroud now in the fold.

LAFC lost at the quarterfinal hurdle of the inaugural Leagues Cup last year (vs. Monterrey), and Seattle were eliminated in the group stage (vs. Monterrey and Real Salt Lake). This upcoming match will represent Seattle’s fifth straight home match in Leagues Cup 2024, while LAFC are coming off playing their previous four Leagues Cup matches at home.

Club America vs Colorado Rapids

The Mexican giants will technically serve as hosts of this quarterfinal from their U.S.-based Leagues Cup hub of Los Angeles. They will welcome the Rapids at Dignity Health Sports Park, home of the LA Galaxy, where Club America downed St. Louis City in the Round of 16 by a 4-2 score. Colorado

Club America, the reigning two-time Liga MX champions, were knocked out in the Round of 16 in last year’s Leagues Cup via a penalty shootout, while the Rapids didn’t make it out of the group stage (vs. Toluca and Nashville SC).

Brazilian manager André Jardine is the architect of Club America’s recent successes, while Chris Armas will hope to replicate Jardine’s trophy haul in his first season in Colorado, who are sitting fourth in MLS’s Western Conference. Both clubs needed late goals to survive their Round of 16 matchups. An 86th-minute Brian Rodriguez penalty proved the game-winner for Club America against St. Louis City, and Colorado got past Toluca on a Darren Yapi winner deep in stoppage time (96th minute).

These two teams have met once before in a 0-0 friendly match played on July 15, 2009, at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Colorado (grainy highlights below).

2024 Leagues Cup Semifinals and Finals

The top three teams earn berths to the CONCACAF Champions Cup

The last four teams left standing will be doing battle for the Leagues Cup tournament title, as well as the three available berths to the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup. The two finalists and the third-place winner will clinch those spots.

The tickets to the Champions Cup represent an important prize because the Champions Cup crowns the continental champion of North America, including all of North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The winner of the Champions Cup is guaranteed to participate in the prestigious FIFA Club World Cup that will begin to be held every four years in its expanded version.

Semifinals

Third-Place match

Final

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