User:Bmf 051/sandbox/North American League Cup

The North American League Cup was a proposed combined league cup competition involving teams from the top 2 levels of the Mexican football league system and the United States soccer league system. The idea would have been for a tournament such as this to serve as an additional qualifying route to the CONCACAF Champions League, joining the existing CONCACAF League played between clubs from UNCAF and the Caribbean Football Union. It would have increase the number of games played between American league and Mexican league teams. Due to a number of teams from the United States league system being from outside the United States, the tournament would have involved teams from the U.S., Mexico, Canada and Puerto Rico.

UANL won the tournament, defeating fellow Liga MX side León 2–0 on aggregate in the final, and outscoring all of their opponents by a combined 14–0 over seven games.

Format
The North American League Cup would currently involve 96 teams (36 Mexican league teams and 60 American league teams) and would be divided into seven rounds, organised so that 32 clubs remain by the third round. Clubs involved in the CONCACAF Champions League during the season would receive a bye to the third round, the remaining first division clubs would enter at the second round, and the remaining second division clubs would enter at the first round. Should this result in fewer or more than 32 teams entering the third round, teams (chosen based on seeding) would be moved from the first round to the second round or to an added preliminary round, as needed. Due to the recent expansion of the U.S.'s second division, the preliminary round is necessary, essentially making the tournament eight rounds long.

The North American League Cup would be played as a knockout cup competition with each tie, except the semi-finals and finals, being played as a single match with the winner advancing to the next round. The semi-finals and finals are played over two legs, with each club playing one leg at home, and the club that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs advances to the finals. If the score is level after 90 minutes, or if the aggregate score is level for the semi-finals or finals, then thirty minutes of extra time is played, divided into two fifteen-minute halves. If the aggregate scores in the semi-finals or finals are still level at the end of extra time the tie shall be decided by goals scored away from home counting twice, according to the away goals rule. If the tie is not decided during extra time, it is decided by a penalty shoot-out.

In the first five rounds, the club drawn first played at their home ground, and in the semi-finals and finals the club drawn first plays the second leg at home. Teams that are affiliated with each other are not permitted to be drawn against each other until the final.

Seeding
The seeding for the tournament is based on the following criterion, with teams being ranked based on each criteria in the order given below, until all ties are broken.


 * 1) North American League Cup title holders are ranked first.
 * 2) First division teams are ranked ahead of second division teams.
 * 3) Recently relegated teams are ranked higher than other teams in the same division.
 * 4) The most recent league champions (if the championship was won in the team's current division) are ranked ahead of non-champions.
 * 5) Recently promoted teams or altogether new teams are ranked below other teams in the same division.
 * 6) Teams are ranked based on record in the most recent regular season (on a per-game basis, since different leagues play different numbers of games).
 * 7) Drawing of lots.

Draw
For the draw for each round, Mexican league teams and American league teams are placed in separate pots. If the number of teams in each pot are different, the highest seeded teams from the larger pot are moved to the smaller pot. Teams from one pot are drawn into matches with teams from the other pot. This drawing method assures that the maximum possible number of Mexican league vs. American league match-ups are played in every round. It also assures that higher seeded teams are less likely to be drawn against each other in early rounds. Affiliated teams may not play each other until the final.

One exception to this drawing method occurs if two Mexican league and two American league teams reach the semi-finals. If this happens, teams from the same league system will automatically play each other. This assures a Mexican league vs. American league match-up in the final.

Once the match-ups are determined, teams will be drawn to determine home-field advantage in each match. The draw will be conducted in such a way that Mexican league and American league teams will each host approximately half of the matches in each round (if the number of matches in a round is not divisible by 2, the extra game will typically be hosted by the league system with the most teams in that round). If it is impossible for one league system to host half of the matches for a given round (due to that league system not qualifying enough teams to that round), all of the teams from the league system will host their match-up in that round.

Round and draw dates
The schedule is as follows. The third round matches and the fourth round draw were postponed three weeks from their originally scheduled dates due to the 2017 Central Mexico earthquake.

Preliminary round
A total of 48 clubs played in the preliminary round, all from the second divisions of their respective league systems: 14 from Ascenso MX, 7 from the North American Soccer League, and 27 from the United Soccer League.

First round
A total of 30 clubs played in the first round, all from the second divisions of their respective league systems: 12 from Ascenso MX, 4 from the North American Soccer League (NASL), and 14 from the United Soccer League (USL). This includes 6 teams that entered this round: 2 from Ascenso MX, 1 from the NASL, and 3 from the USL.

Second round
A total of 46 clubs played in the second round. This included 31 clubs from the first divisions of their respective league systems who all entered at this round: 14 from Liga MX and 17 from Major League Soccer. The remaining 15 clubs were second division teams who were also winners of the first round: 7 from Ascenso MX, 2 from the North American Soccer League, and 6 from the United Soccer League.

Third round
A total of 32 clubs played in the third round. This included 6 teams from the second division of their respective league systems, all of whom advanced from the previous round: 4 from Ascenso MX, 1 from the North American Soccer League, and 1 from the United Soccer League. The remaining 26 first division teams included: 15 from Liga MX (4 entering this round and 11 from the previous round) and 11 from Major League Soccer (5 entering this round and 6 from the previous round).

All matches were scheduled to be played on September 19, 2017 but were postponed to three weeks later due to the 2017 Central Mexico earthquake.

Fourth Round
Sixteen clubs played in the fourth round round. This included 2 clubs from the second divisions of their respective league systems: Venados from Ascenso MX and the Rochester Rhinos from the United Soccer League. The remaining 14 clubs were first division teams: 6 from Liga MX and 8 from Major League Soccer.

Fifth Round
Eight clubs played in the fifth round round. This included one club from the second division of their league system: Venados from Ascenso MX. The remaining 7 clubs were first division teams: 5 from Liga MX and 2 from Major League Soccer.

Semi-finals
A total of four clubs played in the semi-finals, all from the first division of their respective league systems: 3 from Liga MX and 1 from Major League Soccer.

The semi-finals were played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home, and the team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the final.

Finals
The finals are played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home, and the team that scores more goals on aggregate winning the tournament.