2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League

2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League

Tournament details
Dates	TBA
Teams	24 (from maximum of 13 associations)
← 2013–14 2015–16 →

The 2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League will be the 7th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 50th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The winner will qualify as the CONCACAF representative at the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup.

Qualification

Twenty-four teams participate in the CONCACAF Champions League: nine from the North American Zone, twelve from the Central American Zone, and three from the Caribbean Zone.

Clubs may be disqualified and replaced by a club from another association if the club does not have an available stadium that meets CONCACAF regulations for safety. If a club's own stadium fails to meet the set standards then it may find a suitable replacement stadium within its own country. However, if it is still determined that the club cannot provide the adequate facilities then it runs the risk of being replaced.

North America

Nine teams from the North American Football Union qualify to the Champions League. Mexico and the United States are each allocated four spots, the most of any of the CONCACAF's member associations, while Canada is granted one spot in the tournament.

For Mexico, the winners of the Liga MX Apertura and Clausura tournaments earn berths in Pot A of the tournament's group stage, while the Apertura and Clausura runners-up earn berths in Pot B.

For the United States, three of its four spots are allocated through the Major League Soccer (MLS) regular season and playoffs, while the fourth spot is allocated to whoever wins the domestic cup competition, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The winner of the Supporters' Shield and MLS Cup (if US-based) are placed in Pot A; the MLS Cup runner-up (if US-based) and the U.S. Open Cup winner are placed in Pot B.

For Canada, the winner of the domestic cup competition, the Canadian Championship, earns the lone Canadian berth into the tournament, in Pot B. Despite the inclusion of Canadian teams in MLS, they cannot qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through MLS, and if a Canadian-based MLS team win the Supporters' Shield or play in the MLS Cup final, the Champions League place is allocated to the US-based team with the best MLS regular season record who has failed to otherwise qualify.

Central America

Twelve teams from the Central American Football Union qualify to the Champions League. The allocation is as follows: two teams from each of Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and El Salvador, and one team from each of Nicaragua and Belize.

For the Central American teams that qualify via split seasons, the aggregate record of the two tournaments within the season is used to determine which team gains the association's top spot. The pots of the teams are as follows:

• The top teams from the leagues of Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and Panama are placed in Pot A.
• The top team from the league of El Salvador, and the second teams from the leagues of Costa Rica and Honduras are placed in Pot B.
• The second teams from the leagues of Guatemala, Panama and El Salvador, and the teams from the leagues of Nicaragua and Belize are placed in Pot C.

If one or more clubs is precluded, it is supplanted by a club from another Central American association. The reallocation is based on results from previous Champions League tournaments.

Caribbean

Three teams from the Caribbean Football Union qualify to the Champions League. The three berths, in Pot C, are allocated to the top three finishers of the CFU Club Championship, a subcontinental tournament for clubs from associations of the Caribbean Football Union. In order for a team to qualify for the CFU Club Championship, they usually need to finish as the champion or runner-up of their respective association's league in the previous season, but professional teams may also be selected by their associations if they play in the league of another country.

If any Caribbean club is precluded, it is supplanted by the fourth place finisher from the CFU Club Championship.

Teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament.

In the following table, the number of appearances, last appearance, and previous best result count only those in the CONCACAF Champions League era starting from 2008–09 (not counting those in the era of the Champions' Cup from 1962 to 2008).

Association	Team	Pot	Qualifying method	App	Last App	Previous Best
North America (9 teams)
Mexico 4 berths		A	2013 Apertura champion
		B	2013 Apertura runner-up
		A	2014 Clausura champion
		B	2014 Clausura runner-up
United States 4 berths	Sporting Kansas City	A	2013 MLS Cup champion	2nd	2013-14
	New York Red Bulls	A	2013 MLS Supporters' Shield champion	2nd	2009–10	Preliminary round
	Real Salt Lake	B	2013 MLS Cup runner-up	3rd	2012-13	Runner-up
	D.C. United	B	2013 U.S. Open Cup champion	3rd	2009–10	Group stage
Canada 1 berth		B	2014 Canadian Championship champion
Central America (12 teams)
Costa Rica 2 berths		A or B	2013 Invierno champion
		A or B	2014 Verano champion
Honduras 2 berths		A or B	2013 Apertura champion
		A or B	2014 Clausura champion
Guatemala 2 berths		A or C	2013 Apertura champion
		A or C	2014 Clausura champion
Panama 2 berths	Tauro	A or C	2013 Apertura champion	5th	2012–13	Group stage
		A or C	2014 Clausura champion
El Salvador 2 berths		B or C	2013 Apertura champion
		B or C	2014 Clausura champion
Nicaragua 1 berth		C	Champion with better aggregate record in 2013–14 season
Belize 1 berth		C	Champion with better aggregate record in 2013–14 season
Caribbean (3 teams)
TBD		C	2014 CFU Club Championship champion
TBD		C	2014 CFU Club Championship runner-up
TBD		C	2014 CFU Club Championship third place

Notes

Draw

The draw of the tournament will be held in June 2014.

The 24 teams are drawn into eight groups of three, with each group containing one team from each of the three pots. The allocation of teams into pots is based on their national association and qualifying berth. Teams from the same association (excluding "wildcard" teams which replace a team from another association) cannot be drawn with each other in the group stage, and each group is guaranteed to contain a team from either the United States or Mexico, meaning U.S. and Mexican teams cannot play each other in the group stage.

Pot A
Mexico 1	Mexico 2	Sporting Kansas City	New York Red Bulls
Costa Rica 1	Honduras 1	Guatemala 1	Panama 1
Pot B
Mexico 3	Mexico 4	Real Salt Lake	D.C. United
Costa Rica 2	Honduras 2	El Salvador 1	Canada 1
Pot C
Guatemala 2	El Salvador 2	Panama 2	Nicaragua 1
Belize 1	Caribbean 1	Caribbean 2	Caribbean 3

See also

• 2015 FIFA Club World Cup

External links

• CONCACAF Champions League