2021 CONCACAF Champions League


The 2021 CONCACAF Champions League will be the 13th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 56th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Qualification

A total of 16 teams participate in the CONCACAF Champions League:
Therefore, teams from between 6 and 10 out of the 41 CONCACAF member associations may participate in the CONCACAF Champions League.

North America

The nine direct berths for the North American Football Union, which consists of three member associations, are allocated as follows: four berths each for Mexico and the United States, and one berth for Canada.
For Mexico, the champions and runners-up of the Liga MX Apertura and Clausura Liguilla tournaments qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League. If there is any team which are finalists of both tournaments, the vacated berth is reallocated using a formula, based on regular season records, that ensures that two teams qualify via each tournament.
For the United States, four teams qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League, three through the Major League Soccer season and one through its domestic cup competition:
If there is any team which qualifies through multiple berths, or if there is any Canada-based MLS team which are champions of the MLS Cup, the Supporters' Shield, or conference regular season, the vacated berth is reallocated to the U.S.-based team with the best MLS regular season record not yet qualified.
For Canada, the champions of the Canadian Championship, its domestic cup competition which awards the Voyageurs Cup, qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League. While some Canada-based teams compete in MLS, they cannot qualify through either the MLS regular season or playoffs. Moreover, the champions of the Canadian Premier League qualify for the CONCACAF League, meaning a second team from Canada may qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.

Central America

Teams from the Central American Football Union, which consists of seven member associations, must qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through the CONCACAF League. A total of 18 teams from Central America qualify for the CONCACAF League through their domestic leagues. As all but four teams in the CONCACAF League are from Central America, between two and six teams from Central America may qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.

Caribbean

Teams from the Caribbean Football Union, which consists of 31 member associations, qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League either as champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship, the first-tier subcontinental Caribbean club tournament, or through the CONCACAF League. Since 2018, the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship is open to teams from professional leagues, where they can qualify as champions or runners-up of their respective association's league in the previous season.
Another three teams from the Caribbean qualify for the CONCACAF League, which are the runners-up and third-placed team of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship, and the winners of a playoff between the fourth-placed team of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship and the champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield, the second-tier subcontinental Caribbean club tournament which is open to teams from non-professional leagues, where they can qualify as champions of their respective association's league in the previous season. Therefore, between one and four teams from the Caribbean may qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.

CONCACAF League

Besides the 10 direct entrants of the CONCACAF Champions League, another 22 teams qualify for the CONCACAF League, a tournament held from July to November prior to the CONCACAF Champions League. The top six teams of the CONCACAF League, i.e., champions, runners-up, both losing semi-finalists, and best two losing quarter-finalists, qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.

Teams

The following 16 teams qualify 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.
AssociationTeamQualifying methodApp Previous Best
Monterrey2019 Apertura champions6th Champions
Cruz Azul2020 Clausura regular season 1st place at time of suspension7th Champions
América2019 Apertura runners-up6th Champions
León2020 Clausura regular season 2nd place at time of suspension3rd Round of 16
2020 MLS Cup champions
2020 MLS Supporters' Shield champions
MLS is Back Tournament champions
2020 U.S. Open Cup champions
2020 Canadian Championship champions
TBD 2020 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship champions

;Notes

Draw




The draw for the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League will be held in December 2020.
The draw determines each tie in the round of 16 between a team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2, each containing eight teams. The "Bracket Position Pots" contains the bracket positions numbered 1 through 8 corresponding to each tie. The teams from Pot 1 are assigned a bracket position from Pot A and the teams from Pot 2 are assigned a bracket position from Pot B. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other in the round of 16 except for "wildcard" teams which replace a team from another association.
The seeding of teams are based on the CONCACAF Club Index. The CONCACAF Club Index, instead of ranking each team, is based on the on-field performance of the teams that have occupied the respective qualifying slots in the previous five editions of the CONCACAF Champions League. To determine the total points awarded to a slot in any single edition of the CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF uses the following formula:
Points perParticipationWinDrawStage advancedChampions
Points per43112

The slots are assigned by the following rules:
  • For teams from North America, nine teams qualify based on criteria set by their association, resulting in an assigned slot for each team. If a team from Canada qualify through the CONCACAF League, they are ranked within their association, resulting in an assigned slot for them.
  • For teams from Central America, they qualify through the CONCACAF League, and are ranked per association by their CONCACAF League ranking, resulting in an assigned slot for each team.
  • For teams from the Caribbean, the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship champions are assigned the Caribbean champion slot. If teams from the Caribbean qualify through the CONCACAF League, they are ranked per association by their CONCACAF League ranking, resulting in an assigned slot for each team.
The 16 teams are distributed in the pots as follows:
''Note: Updated after CONCACAF Champions League matches on 11 March 2020, points which may increase marked by ≥.
PotRankSlot2015–162016–17201820192020TotalTeam
Pot 11≥107 Cruz Azul
Pot 12≥102 Monterrey
Pot 13≥92 América
Pot 14≥75
Pot 15≥63
Pot 16≥57
Pot 1753
Pot 18≥49
Pot 2948 León
Pot 21025
Pot 2TBD
Pot 2TBD
Pot 2TBD
Pot 2TBD
Pot 2TBD
Pot 2TBD

;Notes

The following are possible slots for teams which qualify through the CONCACAF League which have earned points during the previous five editions of the CONCACAF Champions League :
RankSlot2015–162016–17201820192020TotalTeam
050
39
0≥37
36
35
35
027
00018
00014
00012
00011
00010
00005
00004