The Concacaf Champions Cup

The competition is contested by 27 clubs from across Concacaf's three sub-regions — North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The North American entrants come mainly from Major League Soccer in the United States and Canada, Liga MX in Mexico, the Canadian Premier League and domestic cup competitions. The Central American and Caribbean entrants qualify mainly through regional competitions, giving clubs from different parts of the confederation a route into the same knockout tournament.

The competition dates back to 1962, originally as the Concacaf Champions' Cup. It was renamed the Concacaf Champions League in 2008 and then renamed back to the Concacaf Champions Cup in 2024 alongside a complete format overhaul. Mexican clubs have dominated the competition across its history, with 40 titles between them — more than the combined total of every other country in the confederation.

Unlike competitions such as the UEFA Champions League, which has a league phase, or the Copa Libertadores, which has a group stage, the Concacaf Champions Cup has no opening league or group stage. Instead, the 27 participating clubs play through five rounds of knockout football to decide the winner. Twenty-two clubs enter at the first round; five clubs receive byes directly to the round of 16.

Each round through the semi-finals is played as a two-legged knockout tie, with one match at each club's home ground. The team with more goals on aggregate progresses. If the teams are level on aggregate after normal time in the second leg, away goals in regulation time are used as the next tiebreaker; if they are still level, extra time and then penalties decide the winner. The final is a single match, usually hosted by the finalist ranked higher under Concacaf's competition criteria, although Concacaf can select a neutral venue.

The five clubs that receive byes directly to the round of 16 are the winners of Concacaf's three regional cups — the Leagues Cup, the Central American Cup and the Caribbean Cup — plus the MLS Cup winner and the Liga MX Apertura or Clausura champion with the better regular-season points record. These routes reward the regional cup champions and two of the strongest domestic champions from North America.

The remaining 22 clubs enter at the first round. They come from the same three regions, with Liga MX, MLS, the Canadian Premier League, the U.S. Open Cup, the Canadian Championship, the Central American Cup and the Caribbean Cup all feeding clubs into the tournament. The mix reflects the geographic spread of Concacaf football, with North American clubs from the major leagues making up a large part of the field.

The competition begins in February with the first round and ends with the final in late May or early June. Each round is played across two midweek matchdays, separated by a week or two, with the two-legged ties played home and away. The schedule is compressed by continental standards — the entire competition is played in about four months, compared to the longer seasons used by the UEFA Champions League and Copa Libertadores.

The short schedule reflects how Concacaf football's domestic calendars work. The MLS season runs from February to December; the Liga MX season runs across the calendar year in two halves. The Champions Cup fits into the first part of both, allowing the participating clubs to fit it around their domestic seasons rather than alongside them as in Europe.

The largest share of places goes to Liga MX and MLS, but their qualification routes are not identical. Places come through league championships, playoff success, regular-season performance and, in some cases, reallocated slots when a club has already qualified through another route. The Canadian Premier League provides two clubs, while domestic cup competitions such as the U.S. Open Cup and Canadian Championship also provide qualifying places.

Central American and Caribbean places come mainly through the Concacaf Central American Cup and Concacaf Caribbean Cup rather than directly through league finishing positions. Those regional competitions give clubs from a wider set of member associations a route into the Champions Cup. The qualifying structure means that clubs from very different sized leagues can meet in the early rounds of the competition.

The Champions Cup winner qualifies automatically for the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, entering at the Derby of the Americas stage against the Copa Libertadores winner. The winner also qualifies for the next FIFA Club World Cup, FIFA's expanded global club tournament held every four years.

Unlike the UEFA Champions League or the Copa Libertadores, the Concacaf Champions Cup winner does not automatically qualify for the next edition of the competition. The Champions Cup winner must qualify through their domestic league, domestic cup or one of the regional cups, just as any other club does, in order to defend their title.

The competition was launched in 1962 as the Concacaf Champions' Cup. Guadalajara of Mexico won the first edition. The early format had clubs from the three Concacaf regions playing within their own zone before regional winners met at a final stage. This structure changed several times over the following decades as Concacaf expanded and reorganised the tournament.

In 2008 the competition was renamed the Concacaf Champions League and given a group-stage format. The group stage was dropped in 2018 in favour of a straight knockout. In 2024 the competition was renamed back to the Concacaf Champions Cup — a deliberate echo of the original name — and given the all-knockout 27-team format used today. The 2024 rebrand also tied the competition more closely to the three regional cups that provide three of the byes to the round of 16.

The Concacaf W Champions Cup launched with its first edition in 2024/25 as the region's official women's club competition. It brings together leading clubs from North America, Central America and the Caribbean, with the winner qualifying for FIFA's global women's club competitions. Concacaf has also announced a revised 11-club knockout format from 2027. Concacaf does not currently run a separate men's under-19 club competition.