The 2017 Caribbean Club Championship was the 19th edition of Caribbean Club Championship (also known as the CFU Club Championship), the annual international club football competition in the Caribbean region, held amongst clubs whose football associations are affiliated with the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), a sub-confederation of CONCACAF.
The top four teams qualified for next season's CONCACAF club competitions, an increase from the previous three following the expansion of the CONCACAF club competition platform.[1] The champions qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League tournament proper, while the second through fourth place teams qualified for the new Champions League qualifying tournament, the CONCACAF League.
Cibao won the tournament by defeating San Juan Jabloteh in the final, becoming the first team from the Dominican Republic to be crowned Caribbean club champions and the first to qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League. Runners-up San Juan Jabloteh, together with third place Portmore United and fourth place Central, who were the two-time defending champions, qualified for the first edition of the CONCACAF League.
Location of teams of the 2017 Caribbean Club Championship Red: Group A; Green: Group B; Blue: Group C; Yellow: Group D; Purple: Group E; Pink: Bye to final round.
The tournament was open to all league champions and runners-up from each of the 31 CFU member associations, once their competition ended by the end of 2016.
A total of 21 teams from 12 CFU associations entered the competition.[2] This is the first CFU Club Championship to feature a team from Sint Maarten, and the first since 2004 to feature a team from Montserrat.
The defending champions Central received a bye to the final round (to make room in the first round for Puerto Rico FC, who were left out of the original draw), while the other 20 teams entered the first round.[2]
^Puerto Rico (PUR): Puerto Rico's first division, the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Puerto Rico (LNF), was not played in 2016. A new domestic cup tournament, the Copa Luis Villarejo, was inaugurated and involved teams from the LNF, the second tier Puerto Rico Soccer League (PRSL), as well as Puerto Rico FC of the North American Soccer League (NASL), a second tier league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation. The champions and runners-up of this tournament were to be eligible to enter the CFU Club Championship.[4][5] The champions Puerto Rico FC announced that they would enter the CFU Club Championship, but the runners-up Criollos de Caguas (a top tier club) announced that they would not enter the CFU Club Championship, citing financial difficulties. The Puerto Rican Football Federation stated that only champions Puerto Rico FC would enter, but added that they had requested permission from CONCACAF to allow semi-finalist Metropolitan FA (a second tier club) to replace Criollos de Caguas,[6] but this eventually did not happen. However, in the original draw announced on 16 January 2017, Puerto Rico FC were left out. Puerto Rico FC President Tom Payne tweeted that his team should have been involved in the draw and that a mistake had been made between the Puerto Rican Football Federation, Caribbean Football Union and CONCACAF.[7] They were admitted to the competition on 26 January, taking defending champion Central's place as Group D hosts, while Central were given a bye to the final round.
^Sint Maarten (SXM): No domestic league competition was completed in 2016 in Sint Maarten, so they were represented by Flames United, champions of the 2015 Sint Maarten League.[8]
The original groups and schedule were announced by CFU and CONCACAF on 16 January 2017,[9][10][11] with the revised groups and schedule after the admission of Puerto Rico FC announced on 26 January 2017.[2]
Round
Dates
First round
Group A
22–26 February 2017
Groups B & C
1–5 March 2017
Groups D
14–18 March 2017
Groups E
8–12 March 2017
Final round
14–21 May 2017
First round
In the first round, the 20 teams were divided into five groups of four teams. Each group was played on a round-robin basis, hosted by one of the teams at a centralized venue. The winners of each group advanced to the final round to join the defending champions Central.[2]
In the final round, the six teams (the defending champions Central, which received a bye to the final round, and the five group winners from the first round) were drawn into two groups of three teams (initially the final round was to be played in one group).[13] Each group was played on a round-robin basis. The winners of each group advanced to the final, while the runners-up advanced to the third place match.[14][15]
The draw of the final round was held on 29 March 2017. Central, as the hosts of the final round, and San Juan Jabloteh, as the best performing team in the first round, were seeded into Groups A and B respectively.[16]
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