CF Montreal will face Pumas UNAM and DC United in the Leagues Cup this summer

MONTREAL – CF Montreal will face Pumas UNAM (LIGA MX) and DC United (MLS) in the group stage of the Leagues Cup 2023, which is scheduled to kick off in July.

CF Montreal will play two games in the group stage. The top two ranked teams from each group will then advance to the knockout stage. The full 2023 Leagues Cup schedule will be revealed at a later date.

CF Montreal will participate in this inaugural competition bringing together 47 clubs (18 from LIGA MX and 29 from MLS) who will be divided into 15 groups of three teams. Participants will face off in a World Cup-style tournament that will allow three clubs to qualify for the 2024 Concacaf Champions League. This inaugural edition of the Leagues Cup will take place from July 21 to August 19, 2023.

The top 15 clubs in MLS – excluding MLS Cup champions LAFC – have been placed first in their corresponding geographic region and then based on their position in the 2022 final standings. LIGA Top 15 Teams MX according to the combined rankings of the Clausura 2022 and the Apertura 2022 – with the exception of LIGA MX champions Pachuca – have been associated in reverse order with the top 15 MLS clubs.

Additionally, the 15 Leagues Cup groups have been divided into four regions: West, Center, South and East. With the exception of the West, each region will consist of four groups. Thanks in particular to its historic performance in 2022, when CF Montreal finished second in the Eastern Association standings, the Montrealers were placed in group 2 of the Eastern region.

Pumas UNAM is a Mexican club based in Mexico City. Founded in 1954, this club has won the Mexican league seven times, recently finishing the 2022 season (Apertura) at 11^e ranking rank. The club was also a finalist in the last edition of the Concacaf Champions League, losing 5-2 on aggregate to the Seattle Sounders on May 4.

Each team will play two matches in the group stage. The two teams from each group with the most points will qualify for the Round of 16. There will be no draws in the Leagues Cup group stage fixtures. In the event of a tie after 90 minutes, a penalty shootout will be played.

Starting in 2023, MLS and LIGA MX will observe a summer break each season during which all 47 Canadian, Mexican and American top division clubs will play this new tournament.

All CF Montreal matches in the Leagues Cup will be streamed on the Apple TV app and accessible with the MLS Season Pass, which is available on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices from Roku, Amazon and Google, game consoles and online at tv.apple.com. In addition, RDS and TSN will also televise some tournament matches.

Leagues Cup 2023 – Groups