North American SuperLiga
{{Infobox football tournament
| name = SuperLiga
| logo = 200px
| caption =
| founded = {{start date and age|2007}}
| abolished = {{end date and age|2010}}
| region = NAFU (Canada, Mexico, United States)
| number of teams = 8
| current champions = {{flagicon|MEX}} Morelia
(1st title)
| most successful club = {{flagicon|USA}} NE Revolution
{{flagicon|MEX}} Pachuca
{{flagicon|MEX}} UANL
{{flagicon|MEX}} Morelia
(1 title each)
| broadcasters =
| motto =
| website =
| current =
| American = yes
}}
The SuperLiga was an annual association football competition in North America between four clubs from the Major League Soccer (United States and Canada) and four clubs from the Primera División (Mexico), the top professional league in each country. The competition was sanctioned by CONCACAF, U.S. Soccer, Canada Soccer and FMF, which served as the regional club tournament for the North American zone under CONCACAF, much like the Copa Interclubes UNCAF for the Central American zone and the CFU Club Championship for the Caribbean zone.{{Cite web | title=SuperLiga Rules and Regulations | url=http://www.mlsnet.com/SuperLiga/downloads/SuperLigaRulesRegulations.pdf | format=PDF | work=MLSnet | publisher=Soccer United Marketing | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003031824/http://www.mlsnet.com/SuperLiga/downloads/SuperLigaRulesRegulations.pdf | archive-date=2008-10-03 }} The tournament was held from 2007 to 2010.
Competition format
The format consisted of a group stage, followed by playoffs or "knockout" rounds, with all games held at MLS sites. The tournament had an invitational format for its 2007 debut,{{Cite web |url=http://real-football.blogspot.com/2006/10/mls-answers-to-20-questions-for-don.html |title=Answers to 20 Questions for Don Garber |work=American Soccer Blog |publisher=Blogspot |date=October 6, 2006 |access-date=February 9, 2007}} with four teams invited from both MLS and the Primera División. For successive tournaments, MLS announced that "the four MLS teams with the best regular season records in 2007 will qualify for SuperLiga 2008".{{Cite web|url=http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20070402&content_id=87043&vkey=pr_mls&fext=.jsp | title='Game First' initiatives enhance on-field product | access-date=2007-04-02 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070406041009/http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20070402&content_id=87043&vkey=pr_mls&fext=.jsp |archive-date = 2007-04-06}} However, after problems of fixture congestion during the 2008 season, Major League Soccer announced that starting with SuperLiga 2009 it would no longer allow teams to compete in both the CONCACAF Champions League and the SuperLiga, so the criteria for MLS teams was amended to the top four teams not already qualified for the Champions League. For the Primera División, the champions of the last 4 semi-annual tournaments earned berths to SuperLiga.
The tournament was discontinued after the 2010 edition, with MLS commissioner Don Garber stating that “SuperLiga was a great tournament which served its purpose during its time. CONCACAF got more and more committed to a continental tournament with the Champions League, which we’re very supportive of. It has delivered the value we intended in SuperLiga to put our teams against the best competition in this region.”{{Cite web |first=Simon |last=Borg |title=World Football Challenge builds upon SuperLiga |url=http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/world-football-challenge-will-replace-superliga |work=mlssoccer.com |date=March 29, 2011 |access-date=April 4, 2011}}
A new inter-league competition, the Leagues Cup, was established by MLS and Liga MX in 2019.{{cite news |last=Santaromita |first=Dan |date=May 29, 2019 |title=MLS, Liga MX announce Leagues Cup 8-team tournament |url=https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/chicago-fire/mls-liga-mx-announce-leagues-cup-8-team-tournament/ |work=Pro Soccer USA |publisher=Tribune Publishing |access-date=May 31, 2019}}
Broadcasting
The tournament was telecast live by Univision's TeleFutura network in the United States and by Televisa and TV Azteca in Mexico. It could also be seen in English on Fox Sports World Canada, [http://www.mlssoccer.com MLS Soccer], and [https://web.archive.org/web/20100315153542/http://www.superliga2010.com/ SuperLiga2010.com], which all shared the same feed. The tournament was also streamed live at [https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20110427101420/http://futbol.univision.com/ UnivisionFutbol.com].
Results
| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Finals | ||||
| Ed.
!Year !Champions !Results !Runners-up | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2007 | {{flagicon|MEX}} Pachuca | 1–1 {{pso|4–3}} | {{flagicon|USA}} LA Galaxy |
| 2 | 2008 | {{flagicon|USA}} NE Revolution | 2–2 {{pso|6–5}} | {{flagicon|USA}} Houston Dynamo |
| 3 | 2009 | {{flagicon|MEX}} UANL | 1–1 {{pso|4–3}} | {{flagicon|USA}} Chicago Fire |
| 4 | 2010 | {{flagicon|MEX}} Morelia | 2–1 | {{flagicon|USA}} NE Revolution |
Performances
| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Performance by club | ||||
| Club
!Titles !Runners-Up !Winning editions !Runners-up editions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left|{{flagicon|USA}} NE Revolution | 1 | 1 | 2008 | 2010 |
| align=left|{{flagicon|MEX}} Pachuca | 1 | 0 | 2007 | – |
| align=left|{{flagicon|MEX}} UANL | 1 | 0 | 2009 | – |
| align=left|{{flagicon|MEX}} Morelia | 1 | 0 | 2010 | – |
| align=left|{{flagicon|USA}} LA Galaxy | 0 | 1 | – | 2007 |
| align=left|{{flagicon|USA}} Houston Dynamo | 0 | 1 | – | 2008 |
| align=left|{{flagicon|USA}} Chicago Fire | 0 | 1 | – | 2009 |
| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Performance by nation !Nation !Titles !Runners-up !Total | |||
| align=left|{{flag|Mexico}} | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| align=left|{{flag|United States}} | 1 | 4 | 5 |
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Portal|Association football}}
{{International Club Football}}
{{North American SuperLiga}}
{{North American club football competitions}}
Category:International club association football competitions hosted by the United States
Category:International club association football competitions in North America
Category:Defunct CONCACAF club competitions
Category:Recurring sporting events established in 2007
Category:Recurring events disestablished in 2010