The 2008–09

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

was the first edition of the

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...

club

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

championship modelled after the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, replacing the

CONCACAF Champions' Cup The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

, and overall the 44th edition of the premier football club competition organized by

, the regional governing body of North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The championship began on August 26, 2008, and it concluded May 12, 2009. Atlante of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

won the championship after defeating

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

, also from Mexico on aggregate at the Final. They represented CONCACAF in the

2009 FIFA Club World Cup The 2009 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2009 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was a football tournament played from 9 to 19 December 2009. It was the sixth FIFA Club World Cup and was played in A ...

Qualification

24 teams from 13 nations participated in the 2008–09 CONCACAF Champions League from the ''

North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...

'', ''

Central American Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Ce ...

'', and ''

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

'' zones. Nine of the teams came from North America, twelve from Central America, and three from the Caribbean. Below is the qualification scheme for the 2008-09 competition: Teams in bold qualify directly for the Group Stage. ¹ New England were both the 2007 U.S. Open Cup winners and the 2007 MLS Cup runners-up, so Chivas USA claimed USA4 as the 2007 MLS Supporters' Shield runners-up. ² Saprissa were both the 2007 Invierno and 2008 Verano winners, so Alajuelense has claimed CRC2 as the 2008 Verano runners-up. ³ Luis Ángel Firpo were both the 2007 Apertura and 2008 Clausura winners, so Isidro Metapán has claimed SLV2 as the 2008 Clausura runners-up. ⁴ San Francisco were both the 2007 Clausura and 2008 Apertura winners, so Tauro has claimed PAN2 as the 2008 Apertura runners-up.

Format

There was a two-legged Preliminary Round for 16 clubs, with the eight winners advancing to the Group Stage. They were joined by the other eight teams who were seeded directly into the Group Stage. The clubs involved in the Group Stage were placed into four groups of four with each team playing the others in its group in both home and away matches. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Knockout Rounds, which will consist of two-legged ties. The Final Round, to be held in late April 2009, were also two-legged. Also, unlike the previously contested CONCACAF Champions' Cup, the

away goals The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

rule is used in the CONCACAF Champions League, but does not apply after a tie goes into extra time.

Schedule

Preliminary round

The draw for the preliminary round was held on 11 June 2008 in New York City. The first legs of the preliminary round were played 26–28 August 2008, while the second legs were played 2–4 September 2008. The effects of

Hurricane Gustav Hurricane Gustav () was the second most destructive hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. The seventh tropical cyclone, third hurricane, and second major hurricane of the season, Gustav caused serious damage and casualties in Haiti, ...

led to the cancellation of the first leg of the Harbour View -

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

tie, and as a result the tie was contested as a single match.

Group stage

The Group Stage draw was held on 11 June 2008 in New York City and was unveiled on 16 June 2008. Winners and runners-up of each group advance to the quarterfinals.

Group A

*Cruz Azul were ranked ahead of Saprissa based on head-to-head record, which is the first tiebreaker.

Group B

Group C

*Atlante were ranked ahead of Montreal Impact based on head-to-head record, which is the first tiebreaker.

Group D

*Puerto Rico Islanders were ranked ahead of Tauro based on head-to-head record, which is the first tiebreaker.

Championship round

The draw for the Championship Round was held on 10 December 2008. In each round, teams will play their opponent once at home and once away. The four group winners from the Group Stage will play the second leg at home in the Quarterfinals. The order of the home and away matches for the Semifinals and Finals were determined at the draw. In all rounds, if two teams are tied after both legs then two 15-minute halves of

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

are played. If the two teams are still tied on total goals after extra time a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

determines the winner.

Bracket

Quarterfinals

The first legs of the Quarterfinals were played from 24 February 2009 to 26 February 2009, while the second legs were played from 3 March 2009 to 5 March 2009.

Semifinals

The first legs of the Semifinals were played on 17 March and 18 March 2009, while the second legs were played on 7 April and 8 April 2009.

Final

The two-legged Final was played on 22 April and 12 May 2009. The second leg was originally scheduled for 29 April, but was postponed until 12 May by CONCACAF due to concerns over an outbreak of Swine Flu in Mexico.

Top goalscorers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Concacaf Champions League CONCACAF Champions League seasons 1