2019 CONCACAF League

2019 CONCACAF League
2019 Scotiabank CONCACAF League
Tournament details
Dates July/August – October/November 2019
Teams 16 (from maximum of 10 associations)

The 2019 CONCACAF League (officially the 2019 Scotiabank CONCACAF League for sponsorship purposes) will be the 3rd edition of the CONCACAF League, a football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.[1]

The winners of the 2019 CONCACAF League will qualify for the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League to join the 15 direct entrants.

Qualification

A total of 16 teams participate in the CONCACAF League:

Therefore, teams from either 9 or 10 out of the 41 CONCACAF member associations may participate in the CONCACAF League.

Central America

The 13 berths for the Central American Football Union (UNCAF) are allocated to the seven UNCAF member associations as follows: two berths for each of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Nicaragua, and one berth for Belize.

All of the leagues of Central America employ a split season with two tournaments in one season, so the following teams qualify for the CONCACAF League:

  • In the league of Costa Rica, the champions with the worse aggregate record, and the non-champions with the best aggregate record, qualify. If there is any team which are champions of both tournaments, the non-champions with the second best aggregate record qualify.
  • In the leagues of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama, the champions with the worse aggregate record, and the runners-up with the better aggregate record (or any team which are runners-up of both tournaments), qualify. If there is any team which are finalists of both tournaments, the runners-up with the worse aggregate record qualify. If there are any two teams which are finalists of both tournaments, the semi-finalists with the best aggregate record qualify.
  • In the league of Nicaragua, both champions qualify. If there is any team which are champions of both tournaments, the runners-up with the better aggregate record (or any team which are runners-up of both tournaments) qualify.
  • In the league of Belize, the champions with the better aggregate record (or any team which are champions of both tournaments) qualify.

If teams from any Central American associations are excluded, they are replaced by teams from other Central American associations, with the associations chosen based on results from previous CONCACAF League and CONCACAF Champions League tournaments.[2]

Caribbean

The three berths for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) are allocated via the Caribbean Club Championship, a subcontinental tournament open to the clubs of all 31 CFU member associations. Since 2018, the competition is divided into two tiers: the Tier 1 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship which is open to teams from professional leagues, and the Tier 2 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield which is open to teams from non-professional leagues.

To qualify for the Tier 1 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship, teams have to finish as the champions or runners-up of their respective association's league in the previous season, while to qualify for the Tier 2 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield, teams have to finish as the champions of their respective association's league in the previous season.[3]

The runners-up and third-placed team of the Tier 1 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship, and the winners of a play-off between the fourth-placed team of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship and the champions of the Tier 2 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield, qualify for the CONCACAF League. For the champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield to be eligible for the play-off, they must comply with the minimum CONCACAF Club Licensing requirements for the CONCACAF League.[4]

Teams

The following 16 teams (from eight associations) will qualify for the tournament.

Qualified teams from Central America (13 teams)
Association Team Qualifying method App (Last) Previous Best (Last)
Costa Rica Costa Rica (2 berths) Champions with worse aggregate record in 2018–19 season
Non-champions with best aggregate record in 2018–19 season
El Salvador El Salvador (2 berths) Champions with worse aggregate record in 2018–19 season
Runners-up with better aggregate record in 2018–19 season
Guatemala Guatemala (2 berths) Champions with worse aggregate record in 2018–19 season 1st N/A
Runners-up with better aggregate record in 2018–19 season 1st N/A
Honduras Honduras (2 berths) Champions with worse aggregate record in 2018–19 season
Runners-up with better aggregate record in 2018–19 season
Panama Panama (2 berths) Champions with worse aggregate record in 2018–19 season
Runners-up with better aggregate record in 2018–19 season
Nicaragua Nicaragua (2 berths) Champions with better aggregate record in 2018–19 season
Champions with worse aggregate record in 2018–19 season
Belize Belize (1 berth) Champions with better aggregate record in 2018–19 season
Qualified teams from Caribbean (3 teams)
Association Team Qualifying method App (Last) Previous Best (Last)
TBD 2019 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship runners-up
TBD 2019 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship third place
TBD 2019 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Tier 1–Tier 2 playoff winners

Draw

Location of teams of the 2019 CONCACAF League
Central American Zone Caribbean Zone

The draw for the 2019 CONCACAF League will be held in May 2019.

The draw determines each tie in the round of 16 (numbered 1 through 8) between a team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2, each containing eight teams. The "Bracket Position Pots" (Pot A and Pot B) 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.[5] Each team qualifies for the CONCACAF League based on criteria set by the respective associations (e.g., tournament champions, runners-up, cup champions), resulting in an assigned slot (e.g., CRC2, CRC3) for each team. 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 League and CONCACAF Champions League. To determine the total points awarded to a slot in any single edition of the CONCACAF League (CL) or CONCACAF Champions League (CCL), CONCACAF uses the following formula:

Points per Participation Win Draw Stage advanced Champions
2 (CL)
4 (CCL)		 3 1 0.5 (CL)
1 (CCL)		 2

The 16 teams are distributed in the pots as follows:

As of 27 September 2018
Pot Rank Slot 2014–15
CCL		 2015–16
CCL		 2016–17
CCL		 2017–18
CL+CCL		 2018–19
CL+CCL		 Total Team
Pot 1 1 CRC2 18 9 14 5 3 49 Costa Rica
2 PAN2 8 10 8 13 8.5 47.5 Panama
3 HON2 8 11 11 2 3 35 Honduras
4 SLV2 5 6 5 11.5 5 32.5 El Salvador
5 CCC2 10 7 5 2 5 29
6 NCA1 6 4 6 5 5.5 26.5 Nicaragua
7 PAN3 0 0 0 11 15 26 Panama
8 CCC3 4 5 4 5 5.5 23.5
Pot 2 9 HON3 0 0 0 2 18.5 20.5 Honduras
10 GUA2 8 8 6 0 0 20 Guatemala
11 CRC3 0 0 0 2 15.5 17.5 Costa Rica
12 BLZ1 0 8 4 2 2 16 Belize
13 SLV3 0 0 0 8.5 6.5 15 El Salvador
14 NCA2 0 0 0 9.5 2 11.5 Nicaragua
15 CCC4 0 0 0 2 5 7
16 GUA3 0 0 0 0 0 0 Guatemala
Notes
  Indicates qualifier for this slot is still alive in the 2018 CONCACAF League (and possibly 2019 CONCACAF Champions League) and point values may change as a result.

See also


References

  1. ↑ "Details revealed for newly launched Scotiabank CONCACAF League". CONCACAF League. 8 May 2017.
  2. ↑ "Stage Set for Miami Draw for Second Edition of the Scotiabank Concacaf League". Scotiabank CONCACAF League. 18 May 2018.
  3. ↑ "CONCACAF Announces Expanded CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship for 2018". CONCACAF. 15 December 2017.
  4. ↑ "Dominican Republic Selected to Host Inaugural CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield". CONCACAF.com. 16 February 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Concacaf Club Index 2018" (PDF). CONCACAF.
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