2018 CONCACAF Champions League
The 2018 CONCACAF Champions League was the 10th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 53rd edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
The format of the tournament was changed as part of a new CONCACAF club competition platform consisting of two tournaments and a total of 31 teams competing during the season, with 16 teams competing in the newly created CONCACAF League from August to October, and the winner of the CONCACAF League joining the 15 direct entrants competing in the CONCACAF Champions League from February to April. As a result, the 2018 edition was played using a new format that included the removal of the group stage, a reduction in participating teams from 24 to 16, and a total reduction in matches from 62 to 30.
Guadalajara defeated Toronto FC in the final to win their second CONCACAF club title and their first in the Champions League era, and qualified as the CONCACAF representative at the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. Pachuca won the previous tournament but did not qualify for this tournament and were unable to defend their title.
Qualification
A total of 16 teams participate in the CONCACAF Champions League:- North American Zone: 9 teams
- Central American Zone: 5 teams
- Caribbean Zone: 1 team
- Winners of the CONCACAF League
North America
The nine berths for the North American Football Union 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 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 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
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 the MLS, they cannot qualify through either the MLS regular season or Playoffs. In line with the launch of the new format, which places the Canadian representative directly in the CONCACAF Champions League beginning in early 2018, the Canadian Soccer Association announced in March 2017 that a special one-match playoff between the 2016 champions Toronto FC and the 2017 champions would be played on 9 August 2017 in Toronto to determine who would qualify for the 2018 CONCACAF Champions League, except in the case that Toronto FC won the 2017 edition, the playoff would be unnecessary and Toronto FC would qualify automatically. As Toronto FC did later win the 2017 Canadian Championship, the playoff was not played.
Central America
The five berths for the Central American Football Union are allocated to five of the seven UNCAF member associations as follows: one berth for each of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama. As all of the leagues of Central America employ a split season with two tournaments in one season, the champions with the better aggregate record in the leagues of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.If teams from any Central American associations are excluded, they are replaced by teams from other Central American associations, with the associations chosen based on results from previous CONCACAF Champions League tournaments. For this season, the team from Guatemala was excluded due to the suspension of their federation by FIFA and was replaced by an additional team from Costa Rica.
Caribbean
The sole berth for the Caribbean Football Union is allocated via the Caribbean Club Championship, a subcontinental tournament open to the clubs of all 31 CFU member associations. To qualify for the Caribbean Club Championship, teams have to finish as the champions or runners-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. The champions of the Caribbean Club Championship qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.CONCACAF League
Besides the 15 direct entrants of the CONCACAF Champions League, another 16 teams enter the CONCACAF League, a tournament held from August to October prior to the CONCACAF Champions League. The champions of the CONCACAF League qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.Teams
The following 16 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.
| Association | Team | Qualifying method | App | Previous Best |
| UANL | 2016 Apertura champions and 2017 Clausura runners-up | 4th | Runners-up | |
| Guadalajara | 2017 Clausura champions | 2nd | Group stage | |
| América | 2016 Apertura runners-up | 4th | Champions | |
| Tijuana | Non-finalists with best regular season record in 2017 Clausura | 2nd | Semi-finals | |
| Seattle Sounders FC | 2016 MLS Cup champions | 5th | Semi-finals | |
| FC Dallas | 2016 MLS Supporters' Shield and 2016 U.S. Open Cup champions | 3rd | Semi-finals | |
| New York Red Bulls | 2016 MLS Eastern Conference regular season champions | 4th | Quarter-finals | |
| Colorado Rapids | 2016 MLS Supporters' Shield runners-up | 2nd | Group stage | |
| Toronto FC | 2016 Canadian Championship and 2017 Canadian Championship champions | 5th | Semi-finals |
| Association | Team | Qualifying method | App | Previous Best |
| Cibao | 2017 Caribbean Club Championship champions | 1st | Debut |
;Notes
Draw
The draw for the 2018 CONCACAF Champions League was held on December 18, 2017, 19:00 EST, at the Univision Studios in Miami, and was streamed on YouTube.
The draw determined each tie in the round of 16 between a team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2, each containing eight teams. The "Bracket Position Pots" contained the bracket positions numbered 1 through 8 corresponding to each tie. The teams from Pot 1 were assigned a bracket position from Pot A and the teams from Pot 2 were assigned a bracket position from Pot B. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other in the round of 16 except for "wildcard" teams which replaced a team from another association.
The seeding of teams are based on the new CONCACAF Club Index. Each team qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions League based on criteria set by the respective associations, resulting in an assigned slot 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 |
| Points per | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
The 16 teams were distributed in the pots as follows:
| Pot | Rank | Slot | 2012–13 | 2013–14 | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | Total | Team |
| Pot 1 | 1 | 110 |  América | ||||||
| Pot 1 | 2 | 109 | UANL | ||||||
| Pot 1 | 3 | 103 | Guadalajara | ||||||
| Pot 1 | 4 | 101 | Tijuana | ||||||
| Pot 1 | 5 | 76 |  New York Red Bulls | ||||||
| Pot 1 | 6 | 73 |  Toronto FC | ||||||
| Pot 1 | 7 | 73 | Seattle Sounders FC | ||||||
| Pot 1 | 8 | 71 | FC Dallas | ||||||
| Pot 2 | 9 | 71 | Colorado Rapids | ||||||
| Pot 2 | 10 | 65 |  Saprissa | ||||||
| Pot 2 | 11 | 62 | Herediano ' | ||||||
| Pot 2 | 12 | 56 |  Motagua | ||||||
| Pot 2 | 13 | 53 |  Tauro | ||||||
| Pot 2 | 14 | 32 |  Santa Tecla | ||||||
| Pot 2 | 15 | 27 |  Cibao | ||||||
| Pot 2 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0''' | Olimpia |
Format
In the CONCACAF Champions League, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament. Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied, and if still tied, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows.| First leg | Second leg | |
| Round of 16 | February 20–22, 2018 | February 27 – March 1, 2018 |
| Quarter-finals | March 6–7, 2018 | March 13–14, 2018 |
| Semi-finals | April 3–4, 2018 | April 10, 2018 |
| Finals | April 17, 2018 | April 25, 2018 |
Times up to March 10, 2018 were Eastern Standard Time, i.e.,, thereafter times were Eastern Daylight Time, i.e., .
Bracket
Round of 16
In the round of 16, the matchups were decided by draw: R16-1 through R16-8. The teams from Pot 1 in the draw hosted the second leg.Summary
The first legs were played on February 20–22, and the second legs were played on February 27 – March 1, 2018.Matches
Guadalajara won 7–0 on aggregate.----
Seattle Sounders FC won 5–2 on aggregate.
----
New York Red Bulls won 3–1 on aggregate.
----
Tijuana won 2–1 on aggregate.
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UANL won 5–3 on aggregate.
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Toronto FC won 2–0 on aggregate.
----
3–3 on aggregate. Tauro won on away goals.
----
América won 6–2 on aggregate.
Quarter-finals
In the quarter-finals, the matchups were determined as follows:- QF1: Winner R16-1 vs. Winner R16-2
- QF2: Winner R16-3 vs. Winner R16-4
- QF3: Winner R16-5 vs. Winner R16-6
- QF4: Winner R16-7 vs. Winner R16-8
Summary
The first legs were played on March 6–7, and the second legs were played on March 13–14, 2018.Matches
Guadalajara won 3–1 on aggregate.----
New York Red Bulls won 5–1 on aggregate.
----
4–4 on aggregate. Toronto FC won on away goals.
----
América won 7–1 on aggregate.
Semi-finals
In the semi-finals, the matchups were determined as follows:- SF1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2
- SF2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4
Summary
The first legs were played on April 3–4, and the second legs were played on April 10, 2018.Matches
Guadalajara won 1–0 on aggregate.----
Toronto FC won 4–2 on aggregate.
Finals
In the final, the finalist which had the better performance in previous rounds hosted the second leg.Summary
The first leg was played on April 17, and the second leg was played on April 25, 2018.Matches
3–3 on aggregate. Guadalajara won 4–2 on penalties.Top goalscorers
Awards
| Position | Player | Team |
| GK | Rodolfo Cota | Guadalajara |
| DF | Oswaldo Alanís | Guadalajara |
| DF | Alejandro Mayorga | Guadalajara |
| DF | Michael Amir Murillo | New York Red Bulls |
| DF | Edwin Hernández | Guadalajara |
| MF | Jonathan Osorio | Toronto FC |
| MF |  Mateus Uribe | América |
| MF |  Nicolás Lodeiro | Seattle Sounders FC |
| MF | Isaác Brizuela | Guadalajara |
| FW |  Sebastian Giovinco | Toronto FC |
| FW | Rodolfo Pizarro | Guadalajara |