2020 CONCACAF Champions League
| 2020 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Dates | February–April 2020 |
| Teams | 16 (from TBD associations) |
← 2019 2021 → | |
The 2020 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2020 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) will be the 12th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 55th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Starting from this season, only 10 of the 16 teams directly qualify for the tournament, with the other six berths allocated through the CONCACAF League, where previously only the winners would have qualified.[1]
The winners of the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League will qualify for the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar. Monterrey are the title holders, but did not qualify for this tournament and are unable to defend their title.
Qualification
A total of 16 teams participate in the CONCACAF Champions League:
- Ten teams which directly qualify for the tournament:
- North American Zone: 9 teams (from three associations)
- Caribbean Zone: 1 team (from one association)
- Six teams qualify through the 2019 CONCACAF League (from between two and six associations)
Therefore, teams from between 6 and 10 out of the 41 CONCACAF member associations may participate in the CONCACAF Champions League.
North America
The nine berths for the North American Football Union (NAFU) are allocated to the three NAFU member associations as follows: four berths each for Mexico and the United States, and one berth for Canada.
For Mexico, the champions and runners-up of the Liga MX Apertura and Clausura Liguilla (playoff) tournaments qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League. If there is any team which are finalists of both tournaments, the vacated berth is reallocated using a formula, based on regular season records, that ensures that two teams qualify via each tournament.
For the United States, four teams qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League, three through the Major League Soccer (MLS) season and one through its domestic cup competition:
- The champions of the MLS Cup, the championship match of the MLS Cup Playoffs
- The champions of the Supporters' Shield, awarded to the team with the best MLS regular season record
- The MLS regular season champions of either the Eastern Conference or Western Conference which are not the Supporters' Shield champions
- The champions of the U.S. Open Cup
If there is any team which qualifies through multiple berths, or if there is any Canada-based MLS team which are champions of the MLS Cup, the Supporters' Shield, or conference regular season, the vacated berth is reallocated to the U.S.-based team with the best MLS regular season record not yet qualified.
For Canada, the champions of the Canadian Championship, its domestic cup competition which awards the Voyageurs Cup, qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League. While some Canada-based teams compete in MLS, they cannot qualify through either the MLS regular season or playoffs. Moreover, a team from the Canadian Premier League will also enter the CONCACAF League, meaning a second team from Canada may qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.
Central America
All teams from the Central American Football Union (UNCAF) must qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through the CONCACAF League. A total of 18 teams from the seven UNCAF member associations, which qualified through their domestic leagues, enter the CONCACAF League, and between two and six teams from Central America may qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.
Caribbean
The sole berth for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), which consists of 31 member associations, is allocated via the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship, the first-tier subcontinental Caribbean club tournament. Since 2018, the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship is open to teams from professional leagues. To qualify for the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship, teams have to finish as the champions or runners-up of their respective association's league in the previous season.[2]
The champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League. Another three teams from the Caribbean, which qualified through the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship or CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield (via a playoff), enter the CONCACAF League, meaning a maximum of four teams from the Caribbean may qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.
CONCACAF League
Besides the 10 direct entrants of the CONCACAF Champions League, another 22 teams (1 from the North American Football Union, 18 from the Central American Football Union, and 3 from the Caribbean Football Union) enter the CONCACAF League, a tournament held from July to November prior to the CONCACAF Champions League.[3] The top six teams of the CONCACAF League qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League. As all but four teams in this competition hail from the Central American Football Union, this guarantees a minimum of two Champions League places for that Union.
Teams
The following 16 teams (from between six and ten associations) will qualify 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 | Qualifying method | App (Last) | Previous Best (Last) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mexico (4 berths)
|
América | 2018 Apertura champions | 5th (2018) | Champions (2015–16) |
| UANL | 2019 Clausura champions | 6th (2019) | Runners-up (2019) | |
| Cruz Azul | 2018 Apertura runners-up | 6th (2014–15) | Champions (2013–14) | |
| León | 2019 Clausura runners-up | 2nd (2014–15) | Group stage (2014–15) | |
 United States (4 berths)
|
2019 MLS Cup champions | |||
| Los Angeles FC | 2019 MLS Supporters' Shield champions | 1st | Debut | |
| New York City FC | 2019 MLS Eastern Conference regular season champions | |||
| Atlanta United FC | 2019 U.S. Open Cup champions | 2nd (2019) | Quarter-finals (2019) | |
 Canada (1 berth)
|
Montreal Impact | 2019 Canadian Championship champions | 4th[Note MON] (2014–15) |
Runners-up (2014–15) |
 Jamaica (CFU berth)
|
Portmore United | 2019 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship champions | 1st | Debut |
| Association | Team | Qualifying method | App (Last) | Previous Best (Last) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Honduras
|
Motagua | 2019 CONCACAF League top six ranked overall | 5th (2018) | Round of 16 (2018) |
 TBD
|
2019 CONCACAF League top six ranked overall | |||
| TBD
|
2019 CONCACAF League top six ranked overall | |||
| TBD
|
2019 CONCACAF League top six ranked overall | |||
| TBD
|
2019 CONCACAF League top six ranked overall | |||
| TBD
|
2019 CONCACAF League top six ranked overall |
- Notes
- ^ Montreal: Montreal Impact's first appearance in 2008–09 was made by an earlier incarnation of the franchise with the same name, which played in the USL First Division. The current MLS club began play in 2012, and has made three appearances since then.
Draw
North American Zone 
Central American Zone 
Caribbean Zone(CL) Qualified teams from 2019 CONCACAF League
The draw for the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League will be held in December 2019.
The draw determines each tie in the round of 16 (numbered 1 through 8) between a team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2, each containing eight teams. The "Bracket Position Pots" (Pot A and Pot B) contains the bracket positions numbered 1 through 8 corresponding to each tie. The teams from Pot 1 are assigned a bracket position from Pot A and the teams from Pot 2 are assigned a bracket position from Pot B. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other in the round of 16 except for "wildcard" teams which replace a team from another association.
NOTE: The following seeding is based on the CONCACAF Club Index of the CONCACAF Champions League starting from 2018,[4] and is to be confirmed by CONCACAF. |
The seeding of teams are based on the CONCACAF Club Index.[4] Each team qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions League based on criteria set by the respective associations (e.g., tournament champions, runners-up, cup champions), resulting in an assigned slot (e.g., MEX1, MEX2) for each team. The CONCACAF Club Index, instead of ranking each team, is based on the on-field performance of the teams that have occupied the respective qualifying slots in the previous five editions of the CONCACAF Champions League. To determine the total points awarded to a slot in any single edition of the CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF uses the following formula:
| Points per | Participation | Win | Draw | Stage advanced | Champions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
The 16 teams are distributed in the pots as follows:
| Pot | Rank | Slot | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2018 | 2019 | Total | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pot 1 | 1 | MEX3 | 32 | 23 | 15 | 17 | 26 | 113 | Cruz Azul
|
| 2 | MEX2 | 16 | 20 | 30 | 25 | 21 | 112 | UANL
| |
| 3 | MEX1 | 11 | 33 | 27 | 12 | 20 | 103 | América
| |
| 4 | CAN1 | 23 | 8 | 22 | 21 | 5 | 79 | Montreal Impact
| |
| 5 | USA3 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 17 | 11 | 77 |
| |
| 6 | USA4 | 20 | 16 | 8 | 5 | 11 | 60 | Atlanta United FC[USA]
| |
| 7 | USA2 | 9 | 13 | 14 | 7 | 15 | 58 | Los Angeles FC [USA]
| |
| 8 | USA1 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 58 |
| |
| Pot 2 | 9 | MEX4 | 9 | 18 | 10 | 9 | 4 | 50 | León
|
| 10 | CCC1 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 25 | Portmore United
| |
| 11 | SCL1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 12 |
| |
| 12 | SCL2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| |
| 13 | SCL3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| |
| 14 | SCL4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| |
| 15 | SCL5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| |
| 16 | SCL6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
- Notes
- ^ a b USA Los Angeles FC and Atlanta United FC may still qualify as USA1.
See also
References
- ^ "Concacaf Announces Scotiabank Concacaf League Expansion". www.concacafleague.com. 11 February 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- ^ "CONCACAF Announces Expanded CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship for 2018". CONCACAF. 15 December 2017.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Details revealed for newly launched Scotiabank CONCACAF League". CONCACAF League. 8 May 2017.
- ^ a b "Q&A: Club Index for 2018 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League Draw". CONCACAF.com. 29 November 2017.