Groups from Liga MX and Main League Soccer face one another within the Leagues Cup match to stoke rivalries and outline American soccer—the North American recreation, particularly.
Mexico, the USA and Canada will welcome the FIFA World Cup in 2026, and their nationwide groups simply obtained a small regional preview of that occasion within the U.S.-hosted Copa América. Whereas La Liga and MLS golf equipment had been amongst people who confronted off within the CONCACAF Champions Cup earlier this 12 months—with La Liga’s Pachuca besting MLS’ Columbus Crew—Leagues Cup is the one match catered particularly to La Liga and MLS Golf equipment. Held 4 instances since 2019, the occasion options 47 golf equipment enjoying 77 matches all through the U.S. and Canada via August 25.
Oved Valadez is the co-founder and government artistic director of Portland, Oregon-based artistic consultancy Trade, which was tasked with branding the Leagues Cup and giving it a visible id. That’s tough to do when broader U.S. audiences have a far totally different view of soccer than league and workforce fanbases.
“When you think of the Americana of sports, like there’s these visions and behaviors that are stamped into the American mindset: The big barn with the basketball hoop and the kid shooting, the alleyway with the crate and basketball in Chicago, playing stickball in Brooklyn, playing football at nighttime in Texas in a big stadium,” Valadez mentioned. “There’s these really beautiful symbols, but those don’t exist in soccer or people’s perception of soccer: It’s a suburban sport, you pay to play, orange slices.”
When planning the advertising and marketing for the Leagues Cup, Trade’s mission was to indicate U.S. followers that soccer is a a lot easier, multigenerational, accessible recreation—not solely globally however in lots of corners of the USA. Final 12 months, that meant having LeBron James, Serena Williams and Kim Kardashian in seats by the sideline when Lionel Messi scored the game-winning aim in his debut for MLS’ Inter Miami in opposition to Liga MX’s Cruz Azul throughout the League Cup. Messi would rating 10 targets all through the match as Inter would safe MLS’ first Leagues Cup win.
This 12 months, Trade took a multipronged method with its advertising and marketing, beginning with the anthem and music video, “Nuestros Colores,” produced by Grammy Award winner Emilio Estefan Jr. and that includes contributions from six-time Latin Grammy winner Christian Nodal, Black Eyed Peas member Taboo, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Emily Estefan, Latin Grammy nominee Gusi, Argentinian singer Abel Pintos and Rabanes’ frontman Emilio Regueira. Laden with plenty of on-pitch motion, the anthem video additionally lingers on fan jerseys, their workforce logos’ place in Leagues Cup jerseys and flags designed by Trade, their repurposing by followers like San Diego-based artist Georgina Treviño and their motion throughout generations.
