U.S. Major League Soccer and Mexican Liga MX partnered up and found a new way to promote the two biggest soccer leagues in North America through a joint effort. The partnership includes a new annual Campeones Cup, which will see MLS and Liga MX champions facing in a match to determine the best soccer team in North America.
The inaugural edition of Campeones Cup is scheduled for September 19, 2018. The game will be played in Toronto, between the current MLS champions Toronto FC and the winner of Liga MX’s Campeon de Campeones, which will have Tigres (2017 Liga MX Apertura champion) facing the 2018 Liga MX Clausura champion.
“It’s almost like a continental Super Bowl,” – said MLS commissioner Don Garber in an interview with ESPN FC. “It’s an opportunity for their champion to play our champion in a way that can really create enormous interest and attention for both leagues.“
“It’s a win-win relationship,” – added Liga MX president Enrique Bonilla. “We’re both going to grow and get stronger and stronger and have the chance to compete with other continents, not just within CONCACAF.”
This isn’t the end of MLS and Liga MX partnership. The two leagues will also organize an All-Star game, although that match will have to wait at least until 2019. Also, Liga MX under-20 teams will participate as opponents in the MLS Homegrown Game, which will be part of MLS All-Star Week. Although there were rumors in the past that cup competition between MLS and Liga MX teams might be in the work, this is currently not in the focus of the partnership although other ideas are being discussed.
“In this global world we have to work together if we want to succeed if we want to get better and that’s what we are doing with this announcement.” – said Bonilla about the partnership. “We recognize that each of us has different strengths and we have to put them together so we can grow and so we can have better football so we can compete with the rest of the world.“
