Leagues Cup is Up Next
With Club World Cup and Gold Cup Winding Down, Another Tourney Can Step into the Limelight.
Being a North American Soccer fan can be so frustrating sometimes. More often than not you find yourself in a bar shouting to the friends who only watch Premier League or Serie A:
“Give it a chance.”
“The game has grown so much.”
“No, we’re not going to call it ‘football.’”
But with International soccer fans looking at North America currently, as both the Club World Cup is happening here as well as host nations USA, Mexico, and Canada performing in the Gold Cup, there are more eyes on the region than ever before. After those aforementioned tournaments wrap up, the 2025 edition of the Leagues Cup will take center stage. In its fifth year, Leagues Cup is a month(ish) long clash between clubs in Liga MX (Mexican club teams) and MLS (American club teams, with a slight contingent of Canadian teams as well). It used to allow all teams in both leagues to participate, but now only 18 clubs from each are invited. I went last year, and even though all of the games were played on American soil, Mexican soccer fans came out in droves. Droves I say. Anyway, here’s this year’s theme song:
Which was a remix of last year’s theme. And while I’m on the subject, 2023’s theme was pretty fun too. Lemme ask you this, do YOU have a theme song?
I had the pleasure of checking out some of the games last year. The energy was high, we saw so many different styles of soccer, and it truly was a fun way to see teams I wouldn’t normally see up close. Here’s the thing though, it’s a soccer tournament for soccer lovers. What about people who aren’t fans of the sport per se, but are fans of spectacle? Not that we need buy-in from the international community, but I for one am all about shameless validation.
Give me everything: Give me the stories of the fans who took a six-hour flight to catch a game. Give me the supporter groups with brand-new tifos for the event. I want the lights, I want the player profiles. I want Leagues Cup to take a page out of hockey’s book and give teams special uniforms for the occasion.
I mean I’d never be caught dead in a Devils jersey but they leannnnned in, man!
I understand taking a conservative approach because of how willy-nilly MLS and American soccer in general were thirty years ago. Now, it’s time to go nuts. The quality of play has increased, now’s the time to make a little noise to turn some heads. Even if it means more highlight packages and the social media team working quadruple time, well then those are the eggs you have to crack to make that footy omelet.
Footy omelet…? Yeah, I apologize for that one.