2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League

The 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2016–17 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons)^[1][2] will be the 9th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 52nd edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The winner will qualify as the CONCACAF representative at the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup.

Qualification

A total of 24 teams participate in the CONCACAF Champions League: nine from the North American Zone (from three associations), twelve from the Central American Zone (from at most seven associations), and three from the Caribbean Zone (from at most three associations).

Clubs may be disqualified and replaced by a club from another association if the club does not have an available stadium that meets CONCACAF regulations for safety. If a club's own stadium fails to meet the set standards then it may find a suitable replacement stadium within its own country. However, if it is still determined that the club cannot provide the adequate facilities then it runs the risk of being replaced.

North America

Nine teams from the North American Football Union qualify to the Champions League. Mexico and the United States are each allocated four spots, the most of any of CONCACAF's member associations, while Canada is granted one spot in the tournament.

For Mexico, the winners of the Liga MX Apertura and Clausura tournaments earn berths in Pot A of the tournament's group stage, while the Apertura and Clausura runners-up earn berths in Pot B.

For the United States, three spots are allocated through the Major League Soccer (MLS) regular season and playoffs; the fourth spot is allocated to the winner of its domestic cup competition, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The MLS Cup winner and the Supporters' Shield winner (if U.S.-based) are placed in Pot A; the other regular season conference winner (if U.S.-based) and the U.S. Open Cup winner are placed in Pot B. If any of the above spots are taken by a Canada-based MLS team, the Champions League place is allocated to the U.S.-based team with the best MLS regular season record who has failed to otherwise qualify.

For Canada, the winner of the domestic cup competition, the Voyageurs Cup competed for in the Canadian Championship, earns the lone Canadian berth into the tournament, in Pot B.

Central America

Twelve teams from the Central American Football Union qualify to the Champions League. The allocation is as follows: two teams from each of Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and El Salvador, and one team from each of Nicaragua and Belize.

For the Central American teams that qualify via split seasons, the aggregate record of the two tournaments within the season is used to determine which team gains the association's top spot. The pots of the teams are as follows:

• The top teams from the leagues of Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and Panama are placed in Pot A.
• The top team from the league of El Salvador, and the second teams from the leagues of Costa Rica and Honduras are placed in Pot B.
• The second teams from the leagues of Guatemala, Panama and El Salvador, and the teams from the leagues of Nicaragua and Belize are placed in Pot C.

If one or more clubs is precluded, it is supplanted by a club from another Central American association. The reallocation is based on results from previous Champions League tournaments.

Caribbean

Three teams from the Caribbean Football Union qualify to the Champions League. The three berths, in Pot C, are allocated to the top three finishers of the CFU Club Championship, a subcontinental tournament for clubs from associations of the Caribbean Football Union. In order for a team to qualify for the CFU Club Championship, they usually need to finish as the champion or runner-up of their respective association's league in the previous season, but professional teams may also be selected by their associations if they play in the league of another country.

If any Caribbean club is precluded, it is supplanted by the fourth place finisher from the CFU Club Championship.

Teams

The following 24 teams (from at most 13 associations) 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 (not counting those in the era of the Champions' Cup from 1962 to 2008).

Association	Team	Pot	Qualifying method	App	Last App	Previous Best
North America (9 teams)
Mexico 4 berths		A	2015 Apertura champions
		A	2016 Clausura champions
		B	2015 Apertura runners-up
		B	2016 Clausura runners-up
United States 4 berths		A	2015 MLS Cup champions
		A	2015 MLS Supporters' Shield champions
		B	2015 MLS Eastern or Western Conference regular season champions
		B	2015 U.S. Open Cup champions
Canada 1 berth		B	2015 Canadian Championship champions
Central America (12 teams)
Costa Rica 2 berths		A or B	2015 Invierno champions
		A or B	2016 Verano champions
Honduras 2 berths		A or B	2015 Apertura champions
		A or B	2016 Clausura champions
Guatemala 2 berths		A or C	2015 Apertura champions
		A or C	2016 Clausura champions
Panama 2 berths		A or C	2015 Apertura champions
		A or C	2016 Clausura champions
El Salvador 2 berths		B or C	2015 Apertura champions
		B or C	2016 Clausura champions
Nicaragua 1 berth		C	Champions with better aggregate record in 2015–16 season
Belize 1 berth		C	Champions with better aggregate record in 2015–16 season
Caribbean (3 teams)
TBD		C	2016 CFU Club Championship champions
TBD		C	2016 CFU Club Championship runners-up
TBD		C	2016 CFU Club Championship third place

Draw

The 24 teams are drawn into eight groups of three, with each group containing one team from each of the three pots. The allocation of teams into pots is based on their national association and qualifying berth. Teams from the same association (excluding "wildcard" teams which replace a team from another association) cannot be drawn with each other in the group stage, and each group is guaranteed to contain a team from either the United States or Mexico, meaning U.S. and Mexican teams cannot play each other in the group stage.^[3]

Pot A
Mexico 1	Mexico 2	USA 1	USA 2
Costa Rica 1	Honduras 1	Guatemala 1	Panama 1
Pot B
Mexico 3	Mexico 4	USA 3	USA 4
Costa Rica 2	Honduras 2	El Salvador 1	Canada 1
Pot C
Guatemala 2	El Salvador 2	Panama 2	Nicaragua 1
Belize 1	Caribbean 1	Caribbean 2	Caribbean 3

See also

• 2017 FIFA Club World Cup

References

External links

• CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF.com