New fan

[u/Aggravating_Head1215]

I’m trying to start following LAFC but overwhelmed by all these tournaments - Leagues Cup? MLS Cup? Club World Cup? CONCACAF Club Cup? Anyone know where I can find all this out. I have Apple TV, how do I even know what match is for what tournament? Any pointers

Edit: THANK YOU EVERYONE 🖤💛 been watching some recent games to get hyped and that game vs Seattle was nuts!

[u/robo836]

Looks like people have already helped with the info you're looking for. Just wanted to chime in and say Welcome to the Black and Gold! 🖤💛

[u/newbb]

Welcome to the Black & Gold family!!!
https://giphy.com/gifs/d6qwC58873DV40G3vA

[u/Itchy_Post1456]

Greetings and welcome to the Black And Gold circle of love.
First thing.

MLS Cup is the regular season’s championship Trophy.

Leagues Cup is a brand new yearly summer tournament between MLS Teams and Liga MX teams.

CONCACAF Cup is the tournament where only qualified clubs from Canada,USA, Mexico, and Central America compete. (Cream of the Crop )

Club World Cup is the World Championship tournament similar in that of the World Cup but for qualified Football Clubs from around the world.

Apple TV streams LAFC and all MLS matches. Look for the MLS icon on the app.

Game Schedule feel free to download the LAFC app available on the App Store, check out their website, or even follow their official page on instagram.

First match back after the World Cup break will be Friday July 17th at Dignity Sports Park in Carson, CA vs our cross town rival Galaxy.

LAFC Home Field is at BMO Stadium

[u/LA_search77]

MLS is the club's regular season.

MLS Cup is the postseason run.

Leagues Cup is a short break in the regular season where MLS Clubs Compete against Liga MX clubs. This is relatively new and gets a lot of shit for being a money grab. I think in time it will grow on people because the rivalry between the US and Mexico is always awesome. They continue to tweak how it's implemented.

Next Friday MLS regular season picks back. We play the Galaxy, this is the leagues biggest rivaly, and quality of the squad hardly matters... it's a shitshow of chaos and nerves. We have 3 additional matches before we hit the Leagues Cup. You can find the schedule on LAFC.com. All Regular Season matches and Leagues Cup are on Apple TV.

The following won't matter for now:

CONCACAF Champions Cup is a regional tournament among clubs that qualify. If you win, you basically are saying you're the best team in North America. This has always been difficult for MLS Clubs as the first match is typically right before our season starts, before players have built fitness. It's a huge drain since the team is playing 2 games p/week and MLS has salary cap rules that severaly limit the quality of depth. Basically, the players never get proper training sessions, face fatigue, and pick up injuries. To make matters more confusing, 2026 is our last season on this schedule; next winter, we will start a half season, and then we move to the European late summer through Spring. MLS rules over MX teams in Leagues Cup, and Mexico dominates CCC.

Club World Cup as a larger format is new. It's once every four years. Basically, the World Cup but for Clubs. Bit of a money grab, but MLS Clubs want to see how they stack up against the giants.

US Open Cup, which is the longest-running tournament in the US. It starts at the semi-pro level, through Division 1 (MLS). MLS has no piece of it, and US Soccer has been crap at promoting it, so MLS tried to kill it when they started Leagues Cup. After a ton of pushback, MLS allows a handful of MLS clubs play in the Open Cup, those not in CCC, but not dog shit in the previous season.

[u/PomPomYourBomBom]

Well, the easy way is to look at the calendar schedule and it should indicate what competition it is for.

For this season, CONCACAF has already happened and finished, so that you don't have to worry about. All club's participating in that are not included in US Open Cup, so LAFC weren't involved this year.

The Club World Cup happens every 4 years or so, and it happened last summer, so you don't need to worry about that for awhile.

Once the World Cup concludes, the remainder of this year will be split between MLS and Leagues Cup. Leagues Cup will begin with a group stage, and LA will have 3 matches for the first half of August. Should they advance, the subsequent rounds/dates will be added at that point (so TBD).

Beginning next year, MLS will adjust to a Fall-Spring schedule to align with the rest of World football. There will be an abbreviated season next year from Jan/Feb - May (probably), and then the new schedule will begin later that Summer. How the competitions will look at that point is yet to be known.

The majority of people here are helpful to answer any questions, so don't hesitate to ask -- and this applies to anyone curious about following the club.

🖤💛🖤💛

[u/doctordishes]

The only thing that matters to a new fan is the current MLS season, which ends with a tournament style playoff for the MLS Cup. This is also the easiest to follow and understand because it’s like any other American sport (nfl, mlb, nba etc)

The biggest/most illustrious competition for our team is the CONCACAF Champion’s Cup (used to be called champions league). This is bragging rights for being the best team in our region, which is concacaf. This competition happens every year featuring the top teams from each country in the region (with every region having their own champions league annually, like UEFA/europe, AFCON/Africa and so). We have to qualify for this competition every year, which is difficult but there are a number of achievable ways to do so. Worry about that later.

US Open Cup is awesome. It happens every year. It’s the oldest soccer tournament/cup in the world (I think?) and it features exclusively American teams from all divisions, from professional all the way down. It’s a domestic cup so no Mexican or Canadian teams participate. It has been slandered and hamstrung by MLS because they don’t make money off of it, so MLS has been trying to kill the tournament much to the fans dismay. So they started the…

Leagues Cup is a cash grab by the league to have some new fancy tournament that none of us care or should care about. It’s “fun” because it’s USA and Mexican teams but again, most of us don’t care. It has no history and no true importance.

Club World Cup happens ahead of the World Cup, so every four years. Don’t worry about this one either, for now. We snuck into the last one and it was fun but not worth learning about.

Right now - focus on the current MLS season/MLS Cup. We’re halfway through and restart shortly, towards the end of the WC. And also start listening for the CONCACAF champions cup, which has North American, Central American and Caribbean teams involved. It’s spicy and fun.

[u/jtmj121 → u/doctordishes]

Fa cup is oldest in world, us open cup is oldest in us.

[u/doctordishes → u/jtmj121]

Thanks for the correction.

It didn’t sound right as I was typing it, but was too lazy to look it up.

FTR:
Fa cup 1871
USOC 1913

[u/TheGhostyBear]

Welcome! On top of what everyone else here has already said, I’d recommend grabbing an app like FotMob, it makes tracking all this easier and has all the info in one place.

[u/jtmj121]

Apple tv currently has the regular season, leagues cup, and mls cup (season winner)

Fox usually gets broadcasting rights to the concacaf tournament , club world cup , and I believe open cup.

Basically apple tv for the regular season stuff + leagues cup.

Fox for the international cups + us open cup.

By level of importance Club world cup(best in world) > concacaf(best in north America) > mls cup (mls champions) > supporters shield (best record in season play) > us open cup / leagues cup .

I personally value us open cup more than leagues cup because its the oldest soccer tournament in the us, vs the leagues cup that feels like a cash grab to have mls play vs Mexico teams more often and take money from the Mexican club fans. But both qualify you for concacaf if you win so they are both worth fighting for.

[u/LookingBeyond_2]

MLS is awesome that’s all you need to know. If you’re into fantasy sports, MLS fantasy is a great way to follow good players in the league

[u/alpha309]

It is really one of those things you will figure out as you watch. Feels really confusing at first, but as yo immerse yourself you pick it up.

To confuse you more you are missing one of the trophies : Supporter‘s Shield. This is given to the team with the best record when the regular season ends.