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2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup

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2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup
Tournament details
Dates4 February – 1 June
Teams27
2024
2026

The 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup will be the 60th season of North, Central America, and the Caribbean's premier club association football tournament organized by CONCACAF.

The final will be played on 1 June 2025.[1] The winners of the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup will qualify for the 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup, and the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup.

Qualification

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Twenty-seven teams will qualify for the tournament, with five of them earning direct qualification to the round of 16. The remaining twenty-two teams will enter in round one.

In addition to national league competitions in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, 12 of 27 berths will be determined by international competitions, including the revamped North American zonal competition, the 2024 Leagues Cup (three), and the existing regional or zonal championships in the Caribbean and Central America, the CONCACAF Caribbean Cup (three) and CONCACAF Central American Cup (six), respectively.[2]

Two Canadian Premier League teams will qualify automatically while the United States-only 2024 U.S. Open Cup knockout competition and the Canada-only equivalent, the 2024 Canadian Championship, will provide one berth each.

The winners of the three zonal championships, along with the winner of MLS Cup 2024 and the highest-scoring champion from the 2023–24 Liga MX season, will receive the five byes into the round of 16.[2][3][4]

Location of teams of the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup
North American Zone Central American Zone Caribbean Zone

Distribution

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A total of 27 teams (from 10 associations) qualify for the tournament.[1]

Five teams receive a bye into the round of 16.

  • The champion of the regional competitions for each of CONCACAF's constituent zones; North American, Central American and Caribbean
  • The champions of Liga MX of Mexico and Major League Soccer of the United States and Canada (Liga MX have a split Clausura and Apertura system, so the champion team with the higher aggregate points take this place.)

The remaining 22 teams will enter in round one.

Teams

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The following table includes the number of appearances, last appearance, and previous best from the CONCACAF Champions Cup tournament.

Teams entering in Round of 16 (5)
Competition Team Qualifying method App. (last) Previous best (last)
Caribbean Cup 2024 Caribbean Cup champions
Central American Cup 2024 Central American Cup champions
Leagues Cup United States Columbus Crew 2024 Leagues Cup champions 6th (2024) Runners-up (2024)
Liga MX Mexico América 2023–24 Liga MX Apertura and Clausura champions 16th (2024) Champions (2015–16)
Major League Soccer 2024 MLS Cup champions
Teams entering in Round One (22)
Competition Team Qualifying method App. (last) Previous best (last)
Canadian Championship
(1 berth)
Canada Vancouver Whitecaps FC[Note CAN1] 2024 Canadian Championship winners 5th (2024) Semi-finals (2016–17)
Canadian Premier League
(2 berths)
Canada Cavalry FC 2024 Canadian Premier League champions or runners-up[Note CAN] 2nd (2024) First round (2024)
Canada Forge FC 2024 CPL Shield winners 3rd (2024) Round of 16 (2022)
Caribbean Cup
(2 berths)
Jamaica Cavalier[Note JAM] 2024 Caribbean Cup finalists 2nd (2024) First round (2024)
Dominican Republic Cibao[Note DOM] 2nd (2018) Round of 16 (2018)
2024 Caribbean Cup third place
Central American Cup
(5 berths)
2024 Central American Cup runners-up
Costa Rica Alajuelense[Note CRC] 2024 Central American Cup semi-finalists 28th (2024) Champions (2004)
Guatemala Antigua 2nd (2016-17) Group stage (2016-17)
Nicaragua Real Estelí[Note NCA] 13th (2024) Round of 16 (2021)
Costa Rica Herediano 17th (2024) Semi-finals (2014–15)
Costa Rica Saprissa 2024 Central American Cup play-in winners 38th (2024) Champions (2005)
Honduras Motagua 21st (2023) Quarter-finals (2023)
Leagues Cup
(2 berths)
United States Los Angeles FC[Note USA1] 2024 Leagues Cup runners-up 3rd (2023) Runners-up (2023)
United States Colorado Rapids 2024 Leagues Cup third place 4th (2022) Round of 16 (2022)
Liga MX
(5 berths)
Mexico Cruz Azul 2023–24 Liga MX Clausura runners-up 18th (2022) Champions (2013–14)
Mexico UANL 2023–24 Liga MX Apertura runners-up 12th (2024) Champions (2020)
Mexico Monterrey Next three best clubs in 2023–24 Liga MX aggregate table[Note MEX] 13th (2024) Champions (2021)
Mexico Guadalajara 10th (2024) Champions (2018)
Mexico UNAM 12th (2022) Champions (1989)
Major League Soccer
(4 berths)
United States Inter Miami CF[Note USA1] 2024 Major League Soccer Supporters' Shield winners 2nd (2024) Quarter-finals (2024)
United States LA Galaxy[Note USA1] 2024 Major League Soccer Western conference regular season runners up 11th (2015–16) Champions (2000)
United States FC Cincinnati[Note USA1] Next two best clubs in the 2024 Supporters' Shield standings 2nd (2024) Round of 16 (2024)
United States Real Salt Lake 4th (2015–16) Runners-up (2010–11)
U.S. Open Cup
(1 berth)
United States Sporting Kansas City 2024 U.S. Open Cup runners-up[Note USA] 7th (2019) Semi-finals (2019)
  1. ^
    Canada (CAN): Cavalry FC qualified as a finalist of the 2024 Canadian Premier League as Forge FC already qualified as 2024 CPL Shield winners.
  2. ^
    Canada (CAN1): Vancouver Whitecaps FC can still qualify for the Round of 16 by winning the MLS Cup 2024.
  3. ^
    Costa Rica (CRC): Alajuelense qualified as a finalist. They can still qualify for the Round of 16 if they win the 2024 Central American Cup.
  4. ^
    Dominican Republic (DOM): Cibao qualified as a finalist. They can still qualify for the Round of 16 if they win the 2024 Caribbean Cup.
  5. ^
    Jamaica (JAM): Cavalier qualified as a finalist. They can still qualify for the Round of 16 if they win the 2024 Caribbean Cup.
  6. ^
    Mexico (MEX): Since América won both the Liga MX, Apertura and Clausura, a spot was passed to the third-best team in the aggregate table not already qualified, UNAM.
  7. ^
    Nicaragua (NCA): Real Estelí qualified as a finalist. They can still qualify for the Round of 16 if they win the 2024 Central American Cup.
  8. ^
    United States (USA): Sporting Kansas City qualified as 2024 U.S. Open Cup runners-up as the champions Los Angeles FC already qualified via the 2024 Leagues Cup.[5]
  9. ^
    United States (USA1): FC Cincinnati, Inter Miami CF, LA Galaxy and Los Angeles FC can still qualify for the Round of 16 by winning the MLS Cup 2024.

Schedule

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The competition schedule is as follows.[6]

Round First leg Second leg
Round one 4–6 and 18–20 February 11–13 and 25–27 February
Round of 16 4–6 March 11–13 March
Quarter-finals 1–3 April 8–10 April
Semi-finals 22–24 April 29 April – 1 May
Final 1 June

Times are EST or EDT,[note 1] as listed by CONCACAF (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Notes

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  1. ^ EST (UTC−5) for dates up to 6 March 2024 (Round one and first legs of Round of 16), and EDT (UTC−4) for dates thereafter.

References

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  1. ^ a b "These are the qualified clubs for the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup/". CONCACAF.com. 4 October 2024. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Concacaf announces expanded Champions League starting in 2024". Major League Soccer. 21 September 2021. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  3. ^ "How clubs can qualify for the expanded 2024 Concacaf Champions League". Major League Soccer. 1 June 2022. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  4. ^ "Concacaf announces qualification criteria for Confederation's expanded Champions League starting in 2024". CONCACAF. 1 June 2022. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  5. ^ "Sporting Kansas City cruise past Indy Eleven into US Open Cup final". MLSSoccer.com. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  6. ^ "Concacaf confirms important details for 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup". Concacaf. 25 October 2024. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
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