CONCACAF Champions League
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CONCACAF Champions League |
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| Founded | 1962 |
| Region | North America (CONCACAF) |
| Number of teams | 16 (Group stage) 24 (Total) |
| Current champions |  CF Pachuca (3 times) |
| Most successful club | Cruz Azul América (5 times each) |
| Website | CONCACAF Champions League |
The CONCACAF Champions League is the annual international football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America, and the Caribbean). The competition is open to the leading domestic club teams in the region. The tournament has been known as the CONCACAF Champions' Cup from 1962 to 2008. However, from August 2008 it will be rebranded as the CONCACAF Champions League.
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[edit] History
The current format has eight teams competing - four from the North American zone (two from Mexico, two from the United States/Canada), three from the Central American zone, and one from the Caribbean zone. Since 2005, the champion of the competition also gained entry into the FIFA Club World Cup, giving clubs an added incentive for a strong participation and greater interest from fans. Also the Champions Cup Runner-up will be one of the three CONCACAF invitees to the Copa Sudamericana.
The CONCACAF Executive Committee at their 2006 November meeting decided to "act upon" a proposal at their next meeting by the CONCACAF Secretariat to develop the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup into a larger “Champions League” style event. The CONCACAF Executive Committee reported on November 14, 2007 some of the details.[1] The current Champions' Cup format will be used as planned in the Spring of 2008. Then, a newly expanded tournament will be conducted starting in August 2008 and concluding in May 2009. The setup will involve 24 teams initially and will feature a preliminary round featuring some of the teams to reduce the field to 16 teams, which will be separated into 4 groups of four teams.[2] [3] After a group stage, knockout rounds will be used from the quarterfinals onward.
[edit] Format
The new format will feature 24 teams in total: four clubs each from the United States and Mexico, three Caribbean sides (qualifying via the CFU Club Championship[1]), two clubs each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama, and one representative each from Canada, Belize, and Nicaragua.
There will be a two-leg preliminary round for 16 clubs, with the 8 winners advancing to a group stage. The other 8 teams (2 from the United States, 2 from Mexico, and one each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) will be seeded and begin the competition directly in the group stage. The winners of the preliminary round and the seeded clubs will play in the group stage in four groups of four, with each team playing the others in its group twice, both home and away. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the knockout stages, which will consist of home-and-away elimination. The finals, in late April, will also be two-legged, home-and-away.
[edit] Results
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[edit] Records and statistics
[edit] By Club
(When sorted by years won or lost, the table is sorted by the date of each teams most recent win)
[edit] By Country
| Nation | Winners | Runners Up | Winning Clubs | Runners-Up |
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| Mexico |
24 | 11 | America (5), Cruz Azul (5), U.N.A.M. (3), Pachuca (3), Guadalajara (1), Toluca (2), Necaxa (1), Atlante (1), Puebla (1), U. de Guadalajara (1), Español (1) | Guadalajara (3), Toluca (2), Morelia (2), U.N.A.M. (1), Necaxa (1), Atlante (1), León (1) |
 Costa Rica |
6 | 8 | Saprissa (3), Alajuelense (2), Cartagines (1) | Alajuelense (4), Saprissa (4) |
 El Salvador |
3 | 1 | Alianza (1), Aguila (1), FAS (1) | Marte (1) |
 Suriname |
2 | 10 | Transvaal (2) | Transvaal (5), Robinhood (5) |
 Guatemala |
2 | 4 | Municipal (1), Comunicaciones (1) | Comunicaciones (2), Municipal, Aurora FC (1) |
 Honduras |
2 | 3 | Olimpia (2) | Olimpia (2), UNAH (1) |
 Trinidad and Tobago |
2 | 3 | Defence Force (2) | Defence Force (2), Police FC (1) |
 United States |
2 | 2 | D.C. United (1), Los Angeles Galaxy (1) | Los Angeles Galaxy (1), New York Pancyprian-Freedoms (1) |
 Haiti |
2 | 0 | Racing Club Haïtien (1), Violette AC (1) | - |
 Cuba |
0 | 2 | - | FC Pinar del Río (2) |
 Netherlands Antilles |
0 | 2 | - | Jong Colombia (2) |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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North American club football competitions
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CONCACAF Cup Seasons
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