CONCACAF Champions Cup 2025

Oof looks like LAFC lost out on a top 3 seed ranking based off one point, that's kinda unlucky for them (or they could have advanced one more round in the playoffs).

Whoever draws Cavalier FC in the round of 16 is going to love their chances.

EDIT: Also unless I missed it, they kept the final kind of vague, just that it was a single leg; no mention of a neutral site or site of higher ranked team...

 

Still doesn't make sense either that the CPL gets two teams in automatically and potentially 3, if anything those two automatic qualifiers should be coming from the Costa Rican league which is pretty obviously the third best league in the region taking into account the past few years of data.

 

CONCACAF years back was trying to do this. I guess they didn't have the money or willingness to support such a project.

It's Montagliani doing. Central America is really getting screwed over. IMO, it would benefit more CPL if they had 2 or 3 participants competing vs Central America clubs. Plus it is played at a time CPL is in season unlike CCC. If it were up to me I would give those 2 CPL spots to the Central America Cup (along with CPL competing there as qualification process), keep 1 Canada spot for the Canadian Championship and take 1 spot away from Leagues Cup (no 3rd place) and give it to the defending CCC Champions instead.

 

Guaranteed MLS semifinalist from the left side...looks like Seattle/Vancouver has it the hardest from the MLS teams.

 

Superclasico MX in round 2? CONCACAF is counting the money already. The dream money matchup is probably Superclasico MX and then Seattle vs Club America for maximum attendance. Though Cruz Azul vs America/Chivas will also probably do just fine. It sucks that the non Liga MX and MLS teams are basically also rans in this format.

 

CPL got a very difficult draw. Too many MLS-MLS matchups though.......

 

Yeah, and that early in the season they might be super lightly attended. Maybe not though - LAFC is never lightly attended, Miami is the Messi's. Columbus against Colorado could look pretty ugly if it happens.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if both semifinals were MLS v MX matchups.

Colorado, Salt Lake, Cincinnati, KC, and Columbus (EDIT: plus Calgary and Hamilton!!!) will give us multiple chances at snow games.

So would they dare to play another KC/Miami game at Arrowhead in February?

Same thing happened this year, right?

Last year there was a grand total of one "upset" in the first round, Herediano over Toluca. That strikes me as below average, so we're due for 2 or 3 this time. (Though Saprissa beating anybody really shouldn't count, no offense to Vancouver.)

 

Second time in the last three appearances the Rapids got matched with another MLS team. Which makes the competition a bit boring. Especially in this case when its another Western team we see home and away every year.

 

Yes, but if you win you get ... another MLS team.

 

Isn't that a contradiction?

I mean arguing that there aren’t enough strong leagues in Concacaf means that you are essentially advocating for the need to develop and showcase more competitive teams in the region. By opposing the idea of CPL clubs participating in greater numbers in the Concacaf Champions Cup, you're undermining the very growth you claim is needed.

More clubs participating from other leagues in Central America would provide exposure, experience, and competition against the region's best, helping to elevate their level of play. This, in turn, would strengthen the leagues and contribute to improving the overall quality of soccer in Concacaf.

The contradiction lies in wanting better leagues but simultaneously opposing a pathway to achieve that goal. If anything, there's an obvious over-representation of US-based clubs and way too many Liga MX/MLS match ups. Only the League Cup winner should be going to the tournament, giving back the other berths to Central America

 

But hey, it’s an Eastern team we only see every couple of years

 

Wouldn't you agree that giving berths to a bunch of runner ups in a tournament is a bit much? Those should go to Honduras and Costa Rica. As for CPL not being in the league cup, talk to Garber.

 

It's also a bit much giving two guaranteed spots to a league on par with the Panamanian League (which has no teams in it). According to the official CONCACAF league rankings, leagues from Costa Rica/Honduras/Guatemala are all stronger than the CPL and none of them have a guaranteed pathway to the CCC; if we want to talk fair, I'd give a guaranteed spot to the champions of the "other" three best leagues, and then have the CPL teams try and qualify like everyone else not in MLS/Liga MX...with enough wins under their belt the CPL could move into a top three position and earn its spot.

 

More like talk to Montagliani..... he could (should?) have mandated that MLS/LigaMX include CPL in the Leagues Cup. Instead he chose to give two spots to the CCC to the CPL.

In all honesty, he did a good piece of work for Canadian Soccer here. Canadian Soccer has access to more CCC spots than they ever have before. Now Canadian MLS teams can get into CCC via Leagues Cup and MLS play. Before they could only get into the CCC via the Canadian Championship. So kudos for that!

 

There are no "North American Cups" but the league cup...for reasons...Garber. The league has no other avenue taking into account the league results to qualify.

BTW - the original plan was to have a regional group stage that gave CPL 2 spots out of 20 with the other 18 split between MLS and Liga MX. Are you telling me that this is also too much? When Concacaf shelved the group stage for knockouts, this meant reorganizing the format which led to CPL keeping the 2 spots as planned. Why the change? Who historically opposes the group stage?

The fairer system is a group stage and/or format used in the other regions. This is how you get the best clubs from the most leagues and better balanced representation.An entity consistently opposes this and we have this unbalanced format.

That entity should stop advocating against the group stage

 

An entity opposed the original group stage where CPL were already given 2 spots out of 20 (10%). The League Cup is MLS control so I'm guessing they are the one with the final say on the participants...that's a question for Garber. CPL competing in Central America exclusively makes no sense for the league.

I would say that for the good for CONCACAF, you need more stronger leagues and only being top 2 heavy isn't helpful. Adding another mid-tier league to the region is good business and good for the region as a whole when you think about more opportunities for CONCACAF players to play pro.

One of the key element is exposure to the highest level of competition for the most clubs and the old group stage format was the most efficient way to achieve that. I still remember when the same people questioning CPL in CCC said that they had no business in CONCACAF League yet Forge wouldn't be what they are today without facing top Central American clubs and learn to adjust and win in hostile environment

We need to go back to that and be more inclusive - not getting League Cup 2.0 twice a year

 

You mean like UEFA?

The biggest arguments against the "traditional group stage format" largely center around fixture congestion and the amount of travel it creates. There's not enough upside to a group stage format either due to the aforementioned travel (increases expenses w/o a proportionate increase in revenues).

 

Giving the CPL champion a slot makes sense in that it is a recognition that it doesn't have a regional qualifying tournament to enter. Without that it would be the only D1 league where league play provided no path to the CCC. It's similar to how Canada MNT used to always get an auto-bid to the Gold Cup during an era where it was barely a top 10 team in CONCACAF. The qualifying tournaments were Central America and CFU, so it was just easier to put Canada in directly. The second CPL slot makes less sense and would be better given to the champion of the 3rd-ranked league.

 

Difficult to avoid when MLS has four, or 67% more teams in the competition than Liga MX (thanks to the Leagues Cup).