The Concacaf club tournament has a new name and format. There are also new tournaments feeding into the competition. Some of the teams have already been determined. Concacaf Champions Cup format 27 teams will qualify either from their leagues, national tournaments, or from three regional tournaments. The knockout tournament will have home-and-away legs in each matchup except for the Final which will be a single game. 5 teams will go directly to the Round of 16: 2023 Caribbean Cup champion 2023 Central American Cup champion 2023 Leagues Cup champion 2022/2023 Liga MX Apertura/Clausura champion with best aggregate record: Pachuca 2023 MLS Cup champion 22 teams will start in Round One: 2023 Canadian Championship: Vancouver Whitecaps 2023 Canadian Premier League champions 2023 Canadian Premier League regular season champions 2023 Caribbean Cup runner-up 2023 Caribbean Cup third place 2023 Central American Cup runner-up 2023 Central American Cup losing semi-finalist 2023 Central American Cup losing semi-finalist 2023 Central American Cup play-in winner 2023 Central American Cup play-in winner 2023 Leagues Cup runner-up 2023 Leagues Cup third place 2022/2023 Liga MX Apertura/Clausura champion with lesser aggregate record: UANL Tigres 2022 Liga MX Apertura runner-up: Toluca 2023 Liga MX Clausura runner-up: Guadalajara 2022/2023 Liga MX next best aggregate table: Monterrey 2022/2023 Liga MX next best aggregate table: America 2023 MLS Supporter Shield winner 2023 MLS opposite conference winner 2023 MLS next best Shield table 2023 MLS next best Shield table 2023 US Open Cup champion NOTE: Canadian MLS teams can qualify for the MLS spots in addition to the Canadian Championship. The tournament bracket will be seeded using the new Concacaf Club Ranking Index which now orders teams individually rather than the old system that used ranking by tournament slot: https://www.concacaf.com/en/rankings/club/ There is also a new League Ranking Index that will be used to determine future slot allocations: https://www.concacaf.com/en/rankings/league/ The tournament will start in early 2024 but the dates have not been announced.
2023 Central American Cup 20 teams from the 7 Central American Football Union federations will compete for regional supremacy and 5 spots in the new Concacaf Champions Cup. Qualified teams for the 2023 tournament: Belize (1): Verdes Costa Rica (4): Saprissa, Herediano, Alajuelense, Cartaginés El Salvador (3): FAS, Jocoro, Águila Guatemala (3): Cobán Imperial, Xelajú, Comunicaciones Honduras (4): Olimpia, Olancho, Real España, Motagua Nicaragua (2): Real Estelí, Diriangén Panama (3): Independiente, Sporting San Miguelito, Universitario The teams have been drawn into 4 groups of 5. Teams will play all 4 opponents in their group once: 2 home and 2 away. The top two in each group will advance. The group stage will be held in August, the knockouts will run September-December.
2023 Caribbean Cup 10 teams from the Caribbean Football Union federations will compete for regional supremacy and 3 spots in the new Concacaf Champions Cup. 8 teams have been determined and two more will come out of the Caribbean Shield tournament being held in August. Dominican Republic (3): Cibao, Atlético Pantoja, Moca Jamaica (3): Harbour View, Dunbeholden, Cavalier Trinidad & Tobago (2): Port of Spain, Defence Force 2023 Caribbean Shield champion 2023 Caribbean Shield runner-up Haiti's league is suspended and they will not take part. The Caribbean Cup will have two groups of five teams. Teams will play all 4 opponents in their group once: 2 home and 2 away. The top two in each group will advance. The tournament will start in late August.
CONCACAF changes their club tournament too frequently. It already has a problem with relevance, but these changes only make it worse. Bush league confederation.
These aren't really dramatic changes from an MLS perspective. The key stuff under the hood seems like the rationalization and expansion of the Central American/Caribbean stuff which sounds positive to me (the CONCACAF League was a strange mishmash that didn't seem to be serving any goal), and the formal inclusion of the Canadian Premier League. I've always felt the long term vision for CONCACAF has to be five robustly professionalized men's club leagues (Canada, US, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean), and these format tweaks suggest that they agree with me, which is always the path to my heart.
Travel will be too expensive to have a Caribbean league. How many small islands have flights to other small islands? Imagine if you want to travel between two islands south of USA, but you had to go out of your way and change planes in Miami or somewhere else in the southeast.
Plus language barriers, plus political barriers, plus the low existing standard of pro soccer there. It's hard. Harder than a Central American league. But we put a man on the moon. Things are possible. This new tournament looks like a positive step.
A quick Google shows that InterCaribbean Airways operates between 17 different Caribbean nations/territories. And that's just one of the Caribbean airlines. I don't think its hard to find a flight between most Caribbean nations that is either direct or at worst has a change in a third Caribbean nation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterCaribbean_Airways
Honoring a heritage of Champions 🏆#ConcaChampions pic.twitter.com/WjYi6AhgXo— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) June 8, 2023 Concacaf definitely embracing the full CCC history now, dating back to 1962. Writers on mlssoccer.com will have to adjust. No more statistical and narrative limitation to the “CCL era”.
FIFA Council appoints United States as host of new and expanded FIFA Club World Cup🗞️👉 https://t.co/nIZl1XwXmd pic.twitter.com/H4zrdsbqu7— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) June 23, 2023 I’m guessing they will find a way to have Seattle play at Lumen Field. Host team or not.
The USSF. So in addition to Seattle there will be at least one more MLS team. I imagine they will try to have all MLS teams play in or near their home stadium.
I really hope MLS is considering changing some of its rules before the CWC so its representatives can have a shot to compete.
In the next four days we will find out who are the Leagues Cup qualifiers. Inter Miami CF Aug 11 Charlotte FC Nashville SC Aug 11 Minnesota United FC Philadelphia Union Aug 11 Querétaro Los Angeles FC Aug 11 Monterrey
So which qualifying spot will Monterey keep (assuming they get to the final or win the 3rd place game in Leagues Cup)? One scenario would put a Liga MX team in the CCC while the other puts an MLS one in there.
After all the work and travel Monterrey has put in, hopefully any CCC spot won by them goes to Liga MX. One way or the other. And similarly, any spot won by a MLS team should be kept by MLS.
If Monterrey wins LC it puts them directly in the CCC R16. If they get 2nd 3rd or 4th it makes no difference to them.
With Miami and Nashville in the Leagues Cup final, and thus the 2024 CCC, there are now just 5 MLS teams that have never qualified for the modern (since 2008) tournament: St. Louis, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Minnesota, and Chicago. Minnesota has been eligible for 6 tournaments, Cincinnati 4, Charlotte 1, St. Louis 0. The Fire have missed out on 15.
Of those that have qualified, the Rapids are the only ones to have never advanced in CONCACAF play (including the original format back in 1998 they’ve had 4 chances).