2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup

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.

2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup
Tournament details
Dates2025
Teams27
2024
2026

The final will be played in 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   Columbus Crew 2024 Leagues Cup champions 6th (2024) Runners-up (2024)
Liga MX   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)
  Vancouver Whitecaps FC[Note CAN] 2024 Canadian Championship winners 5th (2024) Semi-finals (2016–17)
Canadian Premier League
(2 berths)
  2024 Canadian Premier League champions
  Forge FC 2024 CPL Shield winners 3rd (2024) Round of 16 (2022)
Caribbean Cup
(2 berths)
2024 Caribbean Cup runners-up
2024 Caribbean Cup third place
Central American Cup
(5 berths)
2024 Central American Cup runners-up
  Alajuelense[Note CRC] 2024 Central American Cup semi-finalists 28th (2024) Champions (2004)
  Antigua[Note GUA] 2nd (2016-17) Group stage (2016-17)
  Real Estelí[Note NCA] 13th (2024) Round of 16 (2021)
  Herediano[Note CRC] 17th (2024) Semi-finals (2014–15)
2024 Central American Cup play-in winners
Leagues Cup
(2 berths)
  Los Angeles FC[Note USA1] 2024 Leagues Cup runners-up 3rd (2023) Runners-up (2023)
  Colorado Rapids[Note USA1] 2024 Leagues Cup third place 4th (2022) Round of 16 (2022)
Liga MX
(5 berths)
  Cruz Azul 2023–24 Liga MX Clausura runners-up 18th (2022) Champions (2013–14)
  UANL 2023–24 Liga MX Apertura runners-up 12th (2024) Champions (2020)
  Monterrey Next three best clubs in 2023–24 Liga MX aggregate table[Note MEX] 13th (2024) Champions (2021)
  Guadalajara 10th (2024) Champions (2018)
  UNAM 12th (2022) Champions (1989)
Major League Soccer
(4 berths)
  Inter Miami CF[Note USA1] 2024 Major League Soccer Supporters' Shield winners 2nd (2024) Quarter-finals (2024)
  LA Galaxy[Note USA1] 2024 Major League Soccer Western conference regular season runners up 11th (2015–16) Champions (2000)
  FC Cincinnati[Note USA1] Next two best clubs in the 2024 Supporters' Shield standings 2nd (2024) Round of 16 (2024)
  Real Salt Lake[Note USA1] 4th (2015–16) Runners-up (2010–11)
U.S. Open Cup
(1 berth)
  Sporting Kansas City 2024 U.S. Open Cup runners-up[Note USA2] 7th (2019) Semi-finals (2019)
  1. ^
    Canada (CAN): Vancouver Whitecaps FC can still qualify for the Round of 16 by winning MLS Cup 2024.
  2. ^
    Costa Rica (CRC): Alajuelense and Herediano qualified as a semi-finalists. They can still qualify for the Round of 16 if they win the 2024 Central American Cup.
  3. ^
    Guatemala (GUA): Antigua qualified as a semi-finalist. They can still qualify for the Round of 16 if they win the 2024 Central American Cup.
  4. ^
    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.
  5. ^
    Nicaragua (NCA): Real Estelí qualified as a semi-finalist. They can still qualify for the Round of 16 if they win the 2024 Central American Cup.
  6. ^
    United States (USA1): FC Cincinnati, Colorado Rapids, Inter Miami CF, LA Galaxy, Los Angeles FC and Real Salt Lake can still qualify for the Round of 16 by winning the MLS Cup 2024.
  7. ^
    United States (USA2): 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]

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.
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