Football tournament
Organising body | CONCACAF |
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Founded | 1962 |
Region | North America, Central America, and the Caribbean |
Number of teams | 27 |
Current champions | Pachuca (6th title) |
Most successful club(s) | América (7 titles) |
2024 final |
CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is the top continental football competition organized by CONCACAF for clubs from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The participating clubs qualify for the tournament, based on their performance in its national leagues. The competition has been held in 59 editions, from 1962 to 2024, with 61 titles awarded due to the shared title for three clubs in the 1978 edition. The tournament has had 30 clubs from 9 nations, that have won at least one title, with Mexican clubs being the most successful with 14 clubs winning 39 titles in total.
From 1962 to 1991, the final was contested over two legs, one match at each stadium of the finalist clubs. Guadalajara won the inaugural edition in 1962, defeating Comunicaciones 6–0 on aggregate score. The first edition with a single final match played at a neutral venue was held in 1992, in which América defeated Alajuelense at the Santa Ana Stadium in Santa Ana, California. The format returned to a two-legged matches from the 2003 edition, excepting for the 2020 edition that was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2021 and 2024 editions, a single final match was played at the home of the club with the best performance in the tournament.
In 10 editions of the tournament, a final match for the title was not held (1963, 1968, 1970, 1973, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1993, 1995 and 1996). In 15 editions, the final was contested between clubs from the same national association, with 14 finals between Mexican clubs (1996, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021) and one final between Costa Rican clubs (2004).
With a final match format, the club with the most appearances in finals is América with 8 finals, followed by Cruz Azul and Pachuca with 6 finals. The same three clubs are the most successful in titles won, América winning 7 titles, followed by Cruz Azul and Pachuca with 6 titles. Only four clubs have won two or more consecutive titles and all of them Mexican clubs, Cruz Azul is the only club to achieve it twice (1969, 1970, 1971 and 1996, 1997), Pachuca (2007, 2008), Monterrey (2011, 2012, 2013), and América (2015, 2016).
Pachuca were the last champions before the competition was renamed as CONCACAF Champions League in 2008, defeating Saprissa 3–2 on aggregate score in the 2008 finals. Under the Champions League format, only clubs from Liga MX and MLS (3 clubs from the United States and 2 from Canada) have reached the final. From 2006 to 2021, all titles were won by Mexican clubs. Seattle Sounders FC became the first and only non-Mexican club to win the title under the name Champions League, defeating UNAM in the 2022 finals.
List of finals
‡ | Finals decided in a playoff |
* | Finals decided by a penalty shoot-out |
† | Match went to extra time |
& | Finals decided on away goals |
- The "Season" column refers to the season the competition was held, and wikilinks to the article about that season.
- Finals are listed in the order they were played.
Final appearances by club
See also: CONCACAF Champions' Cup and Champions League records and statisticsOnly includes appearances under a final match format, 39 clubs from 11 nations have played in a final for the title, of which 26 clubs from 8 nations have won at least one final.
Final appearances by nation
Nation | Final appearances | Finals won | Lost finals |
---|---|---|---|
Mexico | 51 | 34 | 17 |
Costa Rica | 9 | 4 | 5 |
United States | 8 | 3 | 5 |
El Salvador | 4 | 3 | 1 |
Honduras | 4 | 2 | 2 |
Suriname | 9 | 1 | 8 |
Trinidad and Tobago | 4 | 1 | 3 |
Guatemala | 3 | 1 | 2 |
Cuba | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Curaçao | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Canada | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Notes
- Difficulties in securing passports for Racing players in time for the September final in Guadalajara caused the match to be postponed three times. After Guadalajara protested to CONCACAF in February 1964, they were declared champions, but after a counter-protest, CONCACAF decided in April that both legs of the final should be played within two months. This forced Guadalajara to withdraw because they were on a tour of Europe at that time: therefore, the final was scratched, and Racing were declared champions.
- The final was scratched and Toluca were declared champions after Aurora and Transvaal were ejected from the competition.
- The semi-finals and final were scratched and Cruz Azul were declared champions after Saprissa and Transvaal withdrew.
- The championship was to be decided by a final hexagonal, but Cruz Azul and Alajuelense finished level on points, meaning a playoff match was required.
- The semi-finals and final were scratched and Transvaal were declared champions after Saprissa and Alajuelense withdrew.
- The final triangular was scratched and Universidad de Guadalajara, Comunicaciones, and Defence Force were declared joint winners due to administrative problems and disagreement on match dates.
- The championship was decided by a final triangular.
- The final triangular was scratched and Violette were awarded the championship after CD Guadalajara and New York Pancyprian-Freedoms were both disqualified for failing to agree on match dates.
- ^ The championship was decided by a final quadrangular.
- Score was 2–2 aggregate after 90 minutes and extra time. Pachuca won the penalty shoot-out 7–6.
- Score was 3–3 aggregate after 90 minutes. Guadalajara won the penalty shoot-out 4–2.
References
CONCACAF Champions Cup | |||||||||
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