CONCACAF Champions League

The competition's first edition, a knockout tournament called the Champions' Cup, was played under a variety of formats. The last format, used from 2004 to 2008, had eight teams competing – four from the North American zone (two from Mexico, two from the United States), 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 would 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—first delineated in 2003 by then Head of Special Projects Mel Brennan—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 14 November 2007 some of the details.[6]

The previous Champions' Cup format was used as planned in March and April 2008. Then, a newly expanded Champions League tournament was conducted starting in August 2008 and concluding in May 2009. The initial setup involved 24 teams and featured a Preliminary Round contested by 16 teams to reduce the field to 16 teams, which were separated into four groups of four teams.[6][7] After the Group Stage, the Championship Round are held from the Quarterfinal Round onward.

Since 2012, the 24 teams have been divided into eight groups of three teams. The first placed teams qualify for the quarter finals. The quarter finals, semi finals and final are played over two legs.

In December 2016, Manuel Quintanilla, president of the Nicaraguan Football Federation, spoke of a possible new format for the competition,[8] a statement that was later corroborated by Garth Lagerwey, the general manager of Seattle Sounders FC.[9] On 23 January 2017, CONCACAF confirmed the new format beginning with the 2018 edition, eliminating the group stage which had been employed since the re-branding of the competition to the CONCACAF Champions League in 2008.[10]

Under the new CONCACAF competition platform, 31 clubs compete in CONCACAF competitions. 22 teams compete in a new tournament played from August to December, called the CONCACAF League. The CONCACAF League features 18 teams from Central America, three teams from the Caribbean and one team from North America. The champions and next best five clubs advance to the CONCACAF Champions League, played between February and May of the next calendar year, joining nine teams from North America and one team from the Caribbean (the champions of the Caribbean Club Championship).[10]

In February 2021, CONCACAF announced a major overhaul of the tournament which would have included 50 teams and a regional group stage.[11] Twenty teams from North America, twenty teams from Central America, and ten teams from the Caribbean would have been divided into groups of five teams where a total of 16 teams would advance to the knockout stage.[12] This format was abandoned and was never used.

In September of that year, CONCACAF announced an expansion of the tournament to begin in 2024. Under the new format, twenty-seven teams would take part in the Champions League; twenty-two teams would enter the first round, with the winners to be joined by five teams in the round of 16. Teams may qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through their domestic leagues or cups, or through their regional cup competitions: the Leagues Cup for teams from North America, the Central American Cup for teams from Central America, and a Caribbean Cup for teams from the Caribbean.[13]

Additionally, the final will be no longer be over two legs, and instead be a one-off game played at a neutral site.[13]

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

For Mexico, the winners and runners-up of the Liga MX Apertura and Clausura tournaments qualify for the Champions League.

For the United States, three berths are allocated through the Major League Soccer (MLS) regular season and playoffs (the MLS Cup winner, the Supporters' Shield winner, and the other regular season conference winner); the fourth berth is allocated to the winner of its domestic cup competition, the U.S. Open Cup. If a Canada-based team occupies any MLS-allocated berth, or any U.S-based team qualifies for the Champions League by more than one method, the Champions League place is allocated to the U.S.-based team with the best MLS regular season record which has failed to otherwise qualify.

The lone Canadian berth is awarded to the winner of the Canadian Championship, Canada's domestic cup competition. When Canada hosted the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, the Canadian Championship was moved from April–May to April–August (with no matches occurring between May and August), overlapping with the start of the Champions League. For the 2015–16 tournament only, the Canadian berth into the tournament was given to the best Canadian team in the MLS regular season.

One team from the Caribbean Football Union qualifies directly to the Champions League. This berth goes to the winners of the Caribbean Club Championship.

If the Caribbean qualifier is precluded, they are supplanted by the runners-up of the Caribbean Club Championship.

The final six berths are awarded to the top-six placed teams in CONCACAF League. Twenty two teams participate in this tournament, eighteen from the Central American Zone (three berths each from Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, and El Salvador; two from Nicaragua; and one from Belize), three from the Caribbean Zone (the runners-up and third place team from the Caribbean Club Championship, and the winners of a playoff between the fourth-place team and the Caribbean Club Shield winners), and one from Canada (the Canadian Premier League representative).

Performances in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup by club

Club	Titles	Runners-up	Seasons won	Seasons runner-up
América	5	0	1977, 1987, 1990, 1992, 2006
Cruz Azul	5	0	1969, 1970, 1971, 1996, 1997
Pachuca	3	0	2002, 2007, 2008
Saprissa	3	2	1993, 1995, 2005	2004, 2008
UNAM	3	1	1980, 1982, 1989	2005
Transvaal	2	3	1973, 1981	1974, 1975, 1986
Toluca	2	2	1968, 2003	1998, 2006
Alajuelense	2	3	1986, 2004	1971, 1992, 1999
Defence Force	2	2	1978†, 1985	1987, 1988
Olimpia	2	2	1972, 1988	1985, 2000
Guadalajara	1	2	1962	1963, 2007
Atlante	1	1	1983	1994
Comunicaciones	1	2	1978†	1962, 1969
Municipal	1	1	1974	1995
Necaxa	1	1	1999	1996
LA Galaxy	1	1	2000	1997
Racing	1	0	1963
Alianza	1	0	1967
Atlético Español	1	0	1975
Águila	1	0	1976
UdeG	1	0	1978†
FAS	1	0	1979
Violette	1	0	1984
Puebla	1	0	1991
Cartaginés	1	0	1994
D.C. United	1	0	1998
Robinhood	0	5		1972, 1976, 1977, 1982, 1983
Jong Colombia	0	2		1967, 1979
Pinar del Río	0	2		1989, 1990
Morelia	0	2		2002, 2003
Universidad	0	1		1980
Atlético Marte	0	1		1981
Police	0	1		1991
León	0	1		1993

Performances in finals by country

Nation	Titles	Runners-up	Total
Mexico	24††	10	34
Costa Rica	6	5	11
El Salvador	3	1	4
United States	2	1	3
Suriname	2	8	10
Guatemala	2††	3	5
Honduras	2	3	5
Trinidad and Tobago	2††	3	5
Haiti	2	0	2
Cuba	0	2	2
Curaçao	0	2	2

† – Title shared. †† – Includes one title shared.

• When sorted by years won or lost, the table is sorted by the year of each team's most recent inaugural win or loss.