The Seattle Sounders will face Minnesota United and Liga MX’s Club Necaxa in the 2024 Leagues Cup, it was announced on Wednesday. As the top-seeded team in West 6, the Sounders will host both of their group stage games. The exact schedule of games has not yet been released.
The Leagues Cup draw was done by a committee of Liga MX and MLS officials. The key component of this was putting the 45 teams who didn’t get a bye into the Round of 32 into three separate tiers based on their record over 34 games. The groups were then formed by taking one team from each tier, taking into account geography and “competitive balance.” MLS Cup winners Columbus Crew and Liga MX champions Club America go straight to the Round of 32.
The Sounders were the 11th-ranked team overall, sandwiched between Club Leon and Club Pachuca. Minnesota United came out of Tier 2 and were the 30th ranked team, while Necaxa was from Tier 3 with a ranking of 42. Using Concacaf's Club Rankings, the Sounders are 15th, United are 35th and Necaxa is 34th.
United finished the MLS season with 41 points, good for 11th in the West and three points out of a playoff spot. Necaxa finished the 2023 Apertura in 18th out of 18 teams, were 17th in the 2023 Clausura and had a combined record of 6-17-11 in the two tournaments. They are, however, 2-0-1 in the current Apertura.
As in last year's Leagues Cup, the winners of each group will move on to a Round of 32, at which point each game will become single elimination, culminating with a championship game. The winner, runners-up and third-place teams will all receive berths in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup.
