2019 CONCACAF Champions League


The 2019 CONCACAF Champions League was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 54th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Monterrey defeated UANL 2–1 on aggregate in the final to win their fourth title. As the winners of the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League, they qualified for the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar. Guadalajara were the title holders, 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:
Therefore, teams from either 9 or 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 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, because of the restructuring of the CONCACAF Champions League starting from 2018, two teams each from the 2017 and 2018 seasons qualify for the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League:
This means that the Supporters' Shield champions in 2017 and 2018, and the Eastern Conference or Western Conference regular season champions which are not Supporters' Shield champions in 2017 and 2018, which would have qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League in the usual setup, are not guaranteed a berth in the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League. If there is any team which qualifies through multiple berths, or if there is any Canada-based MLS team which are champions of the 2017 or 2018 MLS Cup, the vacated berth is reallocated to the U.S.-based team with the best aggregate record over the 2017 and 2018 MLS regular seasons.
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.

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. Another 13 teams from Central America, which qualified through their domestic leagues, enter the CONCACAF 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.

Caribbean

The sole berth for the Caribbean Football Union, 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.
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, enter the CONCACAF 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.
AssociationTeamQualifying methodApp Previous Best
UANL2017 Apertura champions5th Runners-up
Santos Laguna2018 Clausura champions6th Runners-up
Monterrey2017 Apertura runners-up5th Champions
Toluca2018 Clausura runners-up4th Runners-up
Atlanta United FC2018 MLS Cup champions1stDebut
Sporting Kansas City2017 U.S. Open Cup champions4th Quarter-finals
Houston Dynamo2018 U.S. Open Cup champions5th Quarter-finals
New York Red BullsU.S. non-champions with best aggregate record in 2017 and 2018 MLS regular seasons5th Semi-finals
Toronto FC2018 Canadian Championship champions6th Runners-up

AssociationTeamQualifying methodApp Previous Best
Atlético Pantoja2018 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship champions1stDebut

;Notes

Draw




The draw for the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League was held on 3 December 2018, 19:00 EST, at the Univision Studios in Miami.
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 were based on the CONCACAF Club Index. Each team qualified for the CONCACAF 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, was 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 used the following formula:
Points perParticipationWinDrawStage advancedChampions
Points per43112

The 16 teams are distributed in the pots as follows:
PotRankSlot2013–142014–152015–162016–172018TotalTeam
Pot 11116 Monterrey
Pot 12105 UANL
Pot 13101 Santos Laguna
Pot 1484 Toronto FC
Pot 1577 Houston Dynamo
Pot 1675 Toluca
Pot 1765 New York Red Bulls
Pot 1864 Atlanta United FC
Pot 2957 Independiente
Pot 21056 Sporting Kansas City
Pot 21154 Saprissa
Pot 21252 Marathón
Pot 213038 Guastatoya
Pot 21435 Alianza
Pot 21526 Atlético Pantoja
Pot 21600005 Herediano

;Notes

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.
  • In the round of 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals, the away goals rule was applied if the aggregate score was tied after the second leg. If still tied, a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner.
  • In the finals, the away goals rule was not applied, and extra time would be played if the aggregate score was tied after the second leg. If the aggregate score was still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner.

    Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.
First legSecond leg
Round of 1619–21 February 201926–28 February 2019
Quarter-finals5–6 March 201912–14 March 2019
Semi-finals3–4 April 201910–11 April 2019
Finals23 April 20191 May 2019

Times are Eastern Time, as listed by CONCACAF :

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 from 19–21 February, and the second legs were played from 26–28 February 2019.

Matches

Santos Laguna won 11–2 on aggregate.
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New York Red Bulls won 5–0 on aggregate.
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UANL won 5–2 on aggregate.
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Houston Dynamo won 3–1 on aggregate.
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Sporting Kansas City won 5–0 on aggregate.
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Independiente won 5–1 on aggregate.
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Atlanta United FC won 5–3 on aggregate.
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Monterrey won 1–0 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
The winners of round of 16 matchups 1, 3, 5, 7 hosted the second leg.

Summary

The first legs were played from 5–6 March, and the second legs were played from 12–14 March 2019.

Matches

Santos Laguna won 6–2 on aggregate.
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UANL won 3–0 on aggregate.
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Sporting Kansas City won 4–2 on aggregate.
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Monterrey won 3–1 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
The semi-finalists in each tie which had the better performance in previous rounds hosted the second leg.

Summary

The first legs were played from 3–4 April, and the second legs were played from 10–11 April 2019.

Matches

UANL won 5–3 on aggregate.
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Monterrey won 10–2 on aggregate.

Finals

In the finals, the finalist which had the better performances in previous rounds hosted the second leg.

Summary

The first leg was played on 23 April, and the second leg was played on 1 May 2019.

Matches

Monterrey won 2–1 on aggregate.

Top goalscorers

Awards