The Columbus Crew announced their 2025 Leagues Cup schedule with their Phase One opponents in hopes the Black & Gold can defend their title. The Crew will face off against Toluca F.C. on Tuesday July 29, Club Puebla on Friday August 1, and Club Leon just four days later on August 5. All matches are set to be held at Lower.com Field.

Toluca is the third most successful Club in Liga MX, claiming 10 league titles, while Club Leon is a Liga MX league title winner eight times. The match against Puebla will be the first in Club history.

The Leagues Cup is set to kick off on Tuesday, July 29, with the final on Sunday, August 31. Times for all the matches will be announced at a later date.

New format

New for the third edition of Leagues Cup, the tournament will be played in two rounds; Phase One and the Knockout Rounds. Phase One matches are set to be played between July 29-August 7, with three match dates per Club and all being played between MLS and Liga MX Clubs.

Both regular seasons — MLS and Liga MX — will continue to run through August, with most Leagues Cup matches being held midweek.

The Leagues Cup organizing committee decided that there will also be regional assignments based on Leagues Cup rankings and geographical considerations. 18 teams will be sorted into three tiers:

• Tier 1: Teams ranked 1-3 from each league
• Tier 2: Temas ranked 4-6 from each league
• Tier 3: Teams ranked 7-9 from each league

While both leagues are set to compete against one another, MLS and Liga MX teams will be competing in a league-specific table against Clubs from their own league. Also new, Clubs will earn points within their league-specific tables. (Ex: MLS Club’s win earns points in the Leagues Cup MLS table, while Liga MX wins go towards Leagues Cup Liga MX table.)

The Top four Clubs from each Leages Cup league-specific table advance to the quarterfinals, where they will be placed in a fixed bracket to face off in a single elimination knockout round. The quarterfinal pairings will be decided based on Leagues Cup Phase One performance, with an inverse order.

Out of those eight, the four will compete in two semifinal matches determined by the aforementioned bracket. The third place and Final will determine the three Clubs that qualify for the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup.