2020 CONCACAF Champions League


The 2020 CONCACAF Champions League is 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.
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.
On 12 March 2020, CONCACAF announced the decision to suspend the tournament with immediate effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 13 March 2020, CONCACAF suspended all upcoming competitions scheduled to take place over the next 30 days, with the new dates of the matches to be confirmed later.

Qualification

A total of 16 teams participate in the CONCACAF Champions League:
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 direct berths for the North American Football Union, which consists of three member associations, were allocated 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 qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. If there was any team which were finalists of both tournaments, the vacated berth was reallocated using a formula, based on regular season records, that ensured that two teams qualified via each tournament.
For the United States, four teams qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League, three through the Major League Soccer season and one through its domestic cup competition:
If there was any team which qualified through multiple berths, or if there was any Canada-based MLS team which were champions of the MLS Cup, the Supporters' Shield, or conference regular season, the vacated berth was 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, qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. While some Canada-based teams compete in MLS, they could not qualify through either the MLS regular season or playoffs. Moreover, a team from the Canadian Premier League qualified for the CONCACAF League, meaning a second team from Canada could qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.

Central America

Teams from the Central American Football Union, which consists of seven member associations, must qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through the CONCACAF League. A total of 18 teams from Central America qualify for the CONCACAF League through their domestic leagues. As all but four teams in the CONCACAF League are from Central America, between two and six teams from Central America may qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.

Caribbean

Teams from the Caribbean Football Union, which consists of 31 member associations, qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League either as champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship, the first-tier subcontinental Caribbean club tournament, or through the CONCACAF League. Since 2018, the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship is open to teams from professional leagues, where they can qualify as champions or runners-up of their respective association's league in the previous season.
Another three teams from the Caribbean qualify for the CONCACAF League, which are the runners-up and third-placed team of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship, and the winners of a playoff between the fourth-placed team of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship and the champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield, the second-tier subcontinental Caribbean club tournament which is open to teams from non-professional leagues, where they can qualify as champions of their respective association's league in the previous season. Therefore, between one and 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 qualify for the CONCACAF League, a tournament held from July to November prior to the CONCACAF Champions League. The top six teams of the CONCACAF League, i.e., champions, runners-up, both losing semi-finalists, and best two losing quarter-finalists, 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
América2018 Apertura champions5th Champions
UANL2019 Clausura champions6th Runners-up
Cruz Azul2018 Apertura runners-up6th Champions
León2019 Clausura runners-up2nd Group stage
Seattle Sounders FC2019 MLS Cup champions6th Semi-finals
Los Angeles FC2019 MLS Supporters' Shield champions1stDebut
New York City FC2019 MLS Eastern Conference regular season champions1stDebut
Atlanta United FC2019 U.S. Open Cup champions2nd Quarter-finals
Montreal Impact2019 Canadian Championship champions4th Runners-up
Portmore United2019 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship champions1stDebut

;Notes

Draw




The draw for the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League was held on 9 December 2019, 21:00 EST, at the University of the Cloister of Sor Juana in Mexico City.
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 was based on the CONCACAF Club Index. The CONCACAF Club Index, instead of ranking each team, was based on the on-field performance of the teams that had 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 slots were assigned by the following rules:
  • For teams from North America, nine teams qualified based on criteria set by their association, resulting in an assigned slot for each team. If a team from Canada qualified through the CONCACAF League, they were ranked within their association, resulting in an assigned slot for them.
  • For teams from Central America, they qualified through the CONCACAF League, and were ranked per association by their CONCACAF League ranking, resulting in an assigned slot for each team.
  • For teams from the Caribbean, the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship champions were assigned the Caribbean champion slot. If teams from the Caribbean qualified through the CONCACAF League, they were ranked per association by their CONCACAF League ranking, resulting in an assigned slot for each team.
The 16 teams were distributed in the pots as follows:
PotRankSlot2014–152015–162016–1720182019TotalTeam
Pot 11113 Cruz Azul
Pot 12112 UANL
Pot 13103 América
Pot 1479 Montreal Impact
Pot 1577 New York City FC
Pot 1660 Atlanta United FC
Pot 1758 Los Angeles FC
Pot 1858 Seattle Sounders FC
Pot 2953 San Carlos
Pot 21050 León
Pot 21145 Motagua
Pot 21242 Saprissa
Pot 213035 Olimpia
Pot 21432 Alianza
Pot 215032 Comunicaciones
Pot 21625 Portmore United

Format


In the CONCACAF Champions League, the 16 teams play a single-elimination tournament. Each tie is played on a home-and-away two-legged basis.
  • In the round of 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals, the away goals rule is applied if the aggregate score is tied after the second leg. If still tied, a penalty shoot-out is used to determine the winner.
  • In the finals, the away goals rule is not applied, and extra time is played if the aggregate score is tied after the second leg. If the aggregate score is still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out is used to determine the winner.

    Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows.
RoundFirst legSecond leg
Round of 1618–20 February 202025–27 February 2020
Quarter-finals10–11 March and TBC 2020 TBC
Semi-finalsTBC TBC
FinalsTBC TBC

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 on 18–20 February, and the second legs were played on 25–27 February 2020.

Matches

Atlanta United FC won 4–1 on aggregate.
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Tied 2–2 on aggregate. América won 5–3 on penalties.
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Cruz Azul won 6–1 on aggregate.
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Los Angeles FC won 3–2 on aggregate.
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UANL won 5–4 on aggregate.
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New York City FC won 6–3 on aggregate.
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Tied 4–4 on aggregate. Olimpia won 4–2 on penalties.
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Tied 2–2 on aggregate. Montreal Impact won on away goals.

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 and 7 host the second leg.

Summary

The first legs were played on 10–11 March, with the final match originally scheduled to be played on 12 March, and the second legs were originally scheduled to be played on 17–18 March 2020.

Matches

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Semi-finals

In the semi-finals, the matchups are determined as follows:
  • SF1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2
  • SF2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4
The semi-finalists in each tie which have the better performance in previous rounds host the second leg.

Summary

The first legs were originally scheduled to be played on 7–9 April, the second legs were originally scheduled to be played on 14–16 April 2020.

Matches

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Finals

In the finals, the finalists which have the better performance in previous rounds host the second leg.

Summary

The first leg was originally scheduled to be played on 28–30 April, the second leg was originally scheduled to be played on 5–7 May 2020.

Matches

Top goalscorers