MLS rivalry cups
soccer league trophies in the United States and Canada
In Major League Soccer, several teams annually compete for secondary rivalry cups that are usually contested by only two teams, with the only exceptions being the Cascadia Cup and the new Copa Tejas, which are contested by three MLS teams, each. Each cup or trophy is awarded to the eligible team with the better regular season record and are comparable to minor trophies played for in college football rivalries. Most cups are deliberately conceived as local derbies between teams in the same region. Rivalry cups are considered a tradition to most MLS fans and players alike. Out of the ten original MLS teams only three have not competed in these rivalry cups: Sporting Kansas City, New England Revolution, and the defunct Tampa Bay Mutiny. The Texas Derby is the only MLS rivalry where the winner does not walk away with a cup trophy but instead they play for "El Capitán", a replica 18th century mountain howitzer cannon. Some derbies only contest for bragging rights of rival supporters groups.
Summary
Official
All records reflect wins made when all participating franchises are MLS teams.
* Cascadia Cup existed in USL prior to the entry of franchises into MLS by Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver.** Copa Tejas was originally conceived for USL clubs, with an MLS division created in 2021.
Non-official
All records reflect wins made (per regular season, not per matches) when all participating franchises are MLS teams.
“MLS rivalry cups” enters the record as soccer league trophies in the United States and Canada. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what rivalry, cups and soccer can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “MLS rivalry cups” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.