Social media is almost the only way to reach people and to bring them together these days. The power of the internet to foster global reach and promote your brand, team or league all over the world is huge.

But when it comes to sport, interest is usually created in a much more analogue way, even if digital media are clearly a vital cog in the wheel.

Creating interest in a sport where it isn’t traditionally a powerhouse isn’t easy. In the US, MLS is growing year after year and the national team has a massive following: the inquest into the country’s exit before the finals of the 2018 World Cup shows the depth of feeling the country now has for their football team.

In Mexico, it’s a bit different. But the lack of a genuine regional rivalry in North America is perhaps a problem, if not for the national teams then certainly for the club teams.

In Europe, football fans are likely to follow multiple competitions. It might be rare for one person to be totally up to speed with all of the European leagues, but it’s certainly not strange for a fan of a club in the Premier League to catch a Barcelona game in La Liga or watch Bayern Munich match in the Bundesliga. Indeed, the Champions League means fans are exposed to teams from all over the continent multiple times a week, and if your team is competing in it, you’ll probably want to know how your European opponents are getting on in their domestic league.

In North America, that phenomenon is growing, and this week it has been announced that MLS and the Mexican Liga MX have joined forces to create a North American Super Cup, the Campeones Cup, which will pit together the winners of the US and Mexican domestic competitions.

The idea is to foster rivalry between the leagues and grow that sense of competition between the countries, their leagues and their teams.

Growing sporting competitions in new territories using social media is one thing, but this could show that sport hasn’t lost the power we’ve all known that it has had for years, even before the advent of digital media.

That doesn’t mean the power of digital won’t be important for the initiative to take off, however. Creating a new tradition will mean a concerted effort on the part of the league, the clubs and their social media presences.

In England, for example, when the Community Shield or the European Super Cup take place, it’s seen as a glorified friendly few people seriously care about. In North America, if this competition is to become the rivalry-stoking grudge-match it could be year after year, it’ll be the job of those promoting it to persuade fans that this matters as much as if not more than the league title they won last season.