Leagues Cup gives MLS fans the opportunity to see teams and star players they usually would only see in the Concacaf Champions Cup or with the Mexican national team. Yet with both MLS and Liga MX pausing their domestic seasons to contest the month-long tournament, Liga MX stars will be competing in the US and Canada.
Who are the biggest stars to watch?
Here are 10 of the top players in Liga MX right now – who to keep an eye on when you head to the stadium or tune in via MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Still rolling along with few signs of slowing down, the 37-year-old André-Pierre Gignac made a splash when he moved from Marseille to Tigres in 2015. He adapted to Liga MX and to life in northern Mexico so well, he now feels like a fixture rather than a foreigner. He’s Tigres’ all-time leading scorer with 188 goals scored across all competitions.
Now, he looks to lead the line and get Tigres out of a West 1 group that includes the Portland Timbers and San Jose Earthquakes.
A dynamic attacker, Alexis Vega helped push Chivas all the way to the Liga MX final in the previous tournament. He is at his best when combining with other attackers, registering seven assists in the Apertura 2022 and Clausura 2023 despite suffering an injury that kept him out for a large portion of the winter.
FBRef spits out Columbus Crew playmaker Lucas Zelarayán as the player he’s most similar to statistically, with FC Cincinnati's No. 10 Luciano Acosta also on the list. Vega will pop up in different places than both of those players, but is a danger to score or assist.
Vega is returning from an injury that kept him out of Mexico’s Nations League and Gold Cup squads, but is set to return in time to square off with FC Cincinnati and Sporting Kansas City in Central 3.
His biggest moment on the international stage was no doubt a stunning free-kick goal at the World Cup, helping Mexico get past Saudi Arabia in their final group match in Qatar. It was an incredible finale to a 2022 that saw Luis Chávez make his national team debut at Orlando City SC's Exploria Stadium in April and start all three matches at the World Cup a few months later.
While a dangerous left foot clearly is an important part of Chávez’s game, he can do more than just fire from dead-ball situations. Chávez also is the base of Pachuca's midfield, putting defensive abilities on display in addition to getting forward to assist in attack.
At age 27, Chávez was something of a late bloomer, though European clubs reportedly are still interested in signing him.
Fans will have to wait a bit to see him in Leagues Cup, with Pachuca already through to the knockout stage as the top team in the 2022 aggregate Liga MX table.
A do-it-all two-way midfielder, Álvaro Fidalgo joined Club América after former Real Madrid academy coach Santiago Solari brought him to Mexico City. Solari is gone, but the Spaniard is still there as a critical piece of what Las Aguilas do.
Always looking to get forward, and one of the most accurate passers in North America, Fidalgo often starts América’s attacks, but also makes sure to be in position to stop teams from getting forward and taking on an Aguilas backline still in development.
Following a move to Marseille from his native Brazil and bouncing around on loan, Dória found a home with Santos Laguna in 2018. He’s grown into his time in Torreon, eventually earning the Liga MX’s Best Defender award for the 2020-21 season and visiting BMO Stadium in the 2021 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target. The left-footed center back remains a pillar for Santos.
After an offseason move to Cruz Azul fell through, Dória appears more motivated than ever to help Los Guerreros keep clean sheets, starting with Leagues Cup play against Orlando City SC and Houston Dynamo FC in South 2.
The Paraguay international is now on his fifth Liga MX team, entering the league with Necaxa and making stops at Pumas, Tigres and Toluca.
Teams keep acquiring his services, though, because he just keeps scoring. He put that on display early in his Tijuana career, scoring in each of his first two matches with Xolos. A strong aerial threat with dangerous movement in the box, Carlos González will hope to score at Subaru Park where Xolos face the Philadelphia Union and Queretaro in East 1.
Since bursting into the consciousness of US men’s national team fans with a memorable confrontation against Matt Miazga, fans of the Stars and Stripes have tracked the ups and downs of Diego Lainez’s career. After tough stints with Real Betis and Braga, Lainez returned to North America with Tigres and is showing signs he could become the player El Tri fans have always hoped for.
Lainez competed with the Mexico national team during their Nations League and Gold Cup campaigns, but will hope to start clicking with his Tigres teammates under manager Robert Dante Siboldi, who led the team to a championship, when Tigres play the Portland Timbers and San Jose Earthquakes in the group stage.
He’s back. Hirving Lozano’s former running buddy at Pachuca, “Guti” has spent the last several seasons in the Netherlands with PSV. While he could’ve continued on in Europe, he elected to join former Chicago Fire FC head coach Veljko Paunović at Chivas.
A left-footed central midfielder, Erick Gutiérrez wants to get back into the Mexico national team picture where for many years he profiled as a replacement for all-time caps leader Andrés Guardado. First, he’ll turn his attention to FC Cincinnati and Sporting Kansas City in Leagues Cup.
MLS fans may recall Juan Ignacio Dinenno from Pumas’ run to the Concacaf Champions League final in 2022. He was the top scorer in that competition and has scored plenty of league goals for Pumas as well, recently notching his 55th since joining from Deportivo Cali in 2020.
Tall and strong, Dinenno often is able to get into the spots he wants to find the back of the net. He’ll be tasked with doing so against CF Montréal and D.C. United in East 2.
After standing out at the youth level, Sebastián Córdova's career seemed to have stalled, even after manager Miguel Herrera looked to give him a fresh start by bringing him from América to Tigres. Then, something clicked. He scored in five consecutive playoff matches to help push Tigres to the Liga MX final, then scored in the second leg of the series with Chivas as Tigres won the title despite a turbulent regular season.
A sports hernia injury that kept him off El Tri’s summer squad has fans hoping he can still pick up where he left off in the Liguilla once he returns to the field – potentially as soon as the Leagues Cup, though perhaps in the later rounds should Tigres advance.
