This week the 2026 edition of the Leagues Cup starts and coming off the 2026 World Cup the Leagues Cup is under a (slightly) bigger eye this year. 18 clubs from MLS are joined by all 18 clubs of Liga MX for the competition running throughout August. But the Leagues Cup has garnered its fair share of criticism over the years; from fixture congestion to clashes with the Open Cup to the necessity of the competition. But the Leagues Cup is good football and it could and should be so much more than it is.
The Leagues Cup
Over it's six competition history the Leagues Cup has proven that it can produce some fun football to watch. But the competition has also had three different formats in that span, holding each format for just two seasons. The biggest drag for the competition is partially due to it's late summer timing. In years with either a FIFA World Cup or a Concacaf Gold Cup fixture congestion becomes a major issue. On top of that the competition starts just weeks after Liga MX starts their regular season, effectively having Leagues Cup act as a pre-season competition for the Mexican clubs.
One other slight issue is the completely separate Campeones Cup that takes place later in the fall each season. Each season there is typically the possibility of the Leagues Cup Final and Campeones Cup taking place between the same clubs. And in 2026 those two matches will take place just ten days apart from each other, with the Leagues Cup Final on 6 September and the Campeones Cup on the 16th. However a big factor in why Leagues Cup should be reorganised is the Concacaf Champions Cup.
CONCACAF's Champions Cup
The Champions Cup is CONCACAF's top, and only, international club competition that covers the entire CONCACAF region. Leagues Cup, which can be argued to have a higher overall quality of play, is one of three feeder competitions to the CCC. But the CCC has quite a few problems of its own, both on and off the pitch. CONCACAF's signature club competition has seen five major format changes and three name/branding changes within the last two decades. Including the to re-introduction, reformatting, and elimination of the group stage. Massive qualification changes that saw amongst other things, the introduction and dissolution of the CONCACAF League in under ten years.
Arguably the biggest problem the CCC has is on the pitch, especially in the opening rounds. Since the elimination of the group stage in 2018 no more than one club per season from Central American or Caribbean combined has made it out of their first set of matches. More than once that number has been zero and the only club from that area to advance past the quarter-finals was Honduran side Olimpia, who went to the semi-finals in 2020. Many of those opening round matches end up being two match blowouts, resulting in football many fans don't care to watch.
Clubs from Mexico's Liga MX have dominated the CCC with Seattle Sounders (2022) and Saprissa (Costa Rica) being the only non-Mexican clubs to win hoist the trophy in the last 20 seasons. Though one of the biggest problems the competition has is timing, especially with the upcoming MLS calendar switch. Since the end of the group stage era the competition has been played in a short 3-4 month window starting in January or February each season. While that allows the defending MLS Cup Champion to play it requires teams from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean to wait 6-8 months before playing in the top continental competition.
Reformatting Leagues Cup
First and foremost any reformatting has to come with a reduction of clubs playing, but that doesn't mean less matches overall compared to the current Leagues Cup format. Rather than 36 clubs entering the tournament a cutdown to sixteen clubs would be the best option. With sixteen clubs more top end sides the quality of the competition increases along with many teams having a reduction in fixture congestion. In a reformatting it could and should include; 6 clubs from Liga MX, 5 clubs from MLS, 2 from Canada being the winners of the Canadian Championship and Canadian Premier League, the winners of the CONCACAF Caribbean Cup, CONCACAF Central American Cup, and the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.
The Format
With 16 clubs entering the competition a pretty straightforward format would be able to be used starting out with a group stage, something CONCACAF abandoned following the 2016-17 edition of the then-named Champions League. Four groups of four clubs playing a home and away round robin (six matches) would contest the opening stage of the tournament with the top two advancing to the knockouts.
Knockout round quarter-finals along with the semi-finals would be a two leg series that most international club competitions use. The new Leagues Cup Final would then be a single match at a pre-selected location, that would rotate between the United States, Canada, and Mexico hosting. Nothing that ground breaking but much more straight forward than the current Champions Cup and its format.
One key would be spreading the tournament out over an entire season. That could be either done in a calendar year or over the traditional fall to spring format used in much of the world. Either one would work as with the MLS calendar change, that league will for the most part continue to play during it's current timing. As for Liga MX their schedule results in that league playing over most of the year, as is the case in many Central and South American nations.
Why it would work
Why would this work? Well replacing the CONCACAF Champions Cup with a competition that has both better football and allows for less fixture congestion would be a huge positive for North American club football. Lower fixture congestion would benefit all parties, regardless of league or national affiliation.
Along with that it would give more credence to winning the CONCACAF Caribbean Cup and Central American Cup tournaments. Typically the best club out of those competitions are competitive in the Champions Cup, allowing the best of the best from the two regions to be featured.
A higher quality competition with a constant branding would also allow for higher media rights for all parties. And while that should not be the primary focus, it has to be mentioned as that is a huge part of the modern game.
