The battle for North American soccer supremacy has entered a new phase.
Following the announcement of a highly anticipated 2020 match between the All-Stars of Liga MX and MLS, the countdown is now set for the best of North America's top two leagues to take the stage at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles next summer.
Although we are still months away from analyzing and diving into the two sets of All-Star rosters, here's how both leagues measure up against one another in our “Tale of the Tape”:
Category |
MLS |
Liga MX |
|---|---|---|
First Season |
1996 |
1943 |
No. of Clubs (in 2020) |
26 |
19 |
Reigning Champions |
Seattle Sounders |
Tigres |
League Leaders |
LAFC |
Santos Laguna |
Reigning MVP |
Carlos Vela |
Guido Rodriguez |
Most Titles |
LA Galaxy (5) |
Club America (13) |
Season Calendar |
February-November |
July-December (Apertura), January-May (Clausura) |
Playoff Format |
Single elimination, top 7 in each conference |
Two-legged, top 8 in overall table |
Most Expensive Transfer In |
Ezequiel Barco (reported $15 million) |
Rodolfo Pizarro (reported $16.8 million) |
Most Expensive Transfer Out |
Miguel Almiron<br>
(reported $27 million) |
Edson Alvarez<br>
(reported $17.1 million) |
Transfer Windows |
Primary: February-May<br>
Secondary: July-August |
Summer: June-July<br>
Winter: December-January |
Campeones Cups |
1 (2019 - Atlanta United) |
1 (2018 - Tigres) |
Leagues Cups |
0 |
1 (2019 - Cruz Azul) |
CCL/Champions Cups |
2 (Champions Cups), 0 (CCL) |
24 (Champions Cups), 11 (CCL) |
Head-to-Head CCL |
21W-52L-19D |
52W-21L-19D |
Commissioner/President |
Don Garber |
Enrique Bonilla |
% of Players Born in Europe |
15.7% |
1.6% |
% of Players Born in South America |
16.6% |
35.2% |
No. of Players at 2018 World Cup |
19 |
22 |
Twitter Followers |
3.3 million |
2.9 million |
Average Attendance |
21,305 |
22,829 |
EDITOR'S NOTE: Freelance writer Cesar Hernandez is an expert in all things Mexican soccer. He has covered Liga MX, the Mexican national team and Mexicans abroad for ESPN FC, The Athletic, The Guardian, FourFourTwo, VICE Sports and several other publications. Along with writing and previous radio appearances on the BBC, talkSPORT and SiriusXM FC, Cesar is also a member of the Mexican Soccer Show podcast.
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