The 2020 CONCACAF League (officially the 2020 Scotiabank CONCACAF League for sponsorship purposes) was the fourth edition of the
CONCACAF League
The CONCACAF League was an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF as its second-tier continental competition. It was announced on 8 May 2017.
The competition uses a knockout cup format with each round having two le ...
, a
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 ...
club competition organized by
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 ...
, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, CONCACAF announced on 23 June 2020 that the start of the tournament, which was scheduled to begin on 28 July 2020 and end in November, had been postponed. On 7 August 2020, they announced the tournament would begin on 20 October and end on 28 January 2021.
To ease the schedule, CONCACAF originally announced that the preliminary round and round of 16 would be played as single-leg matches, but on 29 October 2020, CONCACAF announced that this format had been extended to all rounds, with ties hosted by the higher-seeded teams based on the CONCACAF Club Ranking.
The final was also rescheduled to 3 February 2021.
Alajuelense
Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Ala ...
defeated title holders
Saprissa
Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. The team's signature colours are purple ...
in the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
to win their first CONCACAF League title. As winners, they and the next best five teams qualified for the
2021 CONCACAF Champions League
The 2021 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2021 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 56th edition of the premier footbal ...
.
After the format change of all rounds to single-leg matches, it was decided a play-in round would be added for the four losing quarter-finalists to compete for the last two places in the CONCACAF Champions League.
Qualification
A total of 22 teams participated in the CONCACAF League:
*
North American Zone: 1 team (from one association)
*
Central American Zone: 18 teams (from seven associations)
*
Caribbean Zone: 3 teams (from two or three associations)
Therefore, teams from either 10 or 11 out of the 41
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 ...
member associations could participate in the CONCACAF League.
North America
The one berth for the
North American Zone (NAFU) was allocated to the
Canadian Soccer Association
The Canadian Soccer Association (Canada Soccer) is the governing body of soccer in Canada. It is a national organization that oversees the Canadian men's and women's national teams for international play, as well as the respective junior sides ( ...
through the previous year's
Canadian Premier League
The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's Association football, soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary nationa ...
, where the champions, decided by the
Canadian Premier League Finals, contested between the Spring and Fall season champions, qualified. They were the second Canadian representative included in CONCACAF competitions, not including the
Canadian Championship winners which qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League.
Central America
The 18 berths for the
Central American Football Union
The Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol (Central American Football Union), more commonly known by the acronym UNCAF, represents the national football teams of Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Pa ...
(UNCAF), which consisted of seven member associations, were allocated as follows: three berths for each of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, two berths for Nicaragua, and one berth for Belize.
All of the leagues of Central America employed a
split season
A split season is a schedule format implemented in a variety of sports leagues. The season is divided into two parts, with the winners of both halves playing each other at the end for the overall championship.
Split seasons are usually found in sp ...
with two tournaments in one season, so the following teams qualifief for the CONCACAF League:
*In the league of
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
, both champions, and the non-champions with the best aggregate record, qualified. If there was any team which were champions of both tournaments, the non-champions with the second best aggregate record qualified.
*In the leagues of
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
,
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
,
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
, and
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
, both champions, and the runners-up with the better aggregate record (or any team which were runners-up of both tournaments), qualified. If there was any team which were finalists of both tournaments, the runners-up with the worse aggregate record qualify. If there were any two teams which were finalists of both tournaments, the semi-finalists with the best aggregate record would qualify.
*In the league of
Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
, both champions qualified. If there was any team which were champions of both tournaments, the runners-up with the better aggregate record (or any team which were runners-up of both tournaments) qualified.
*In the league of
Belize
Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...
, the champions with the better aggregate record (or any team which were champions of both tournaments) qualified.
If teams from any Central American associations were excluded, they were to be replaced by teams from other Central American associations, with the associations chosen based on results from previous CONCACAF League and CONCACAF Champions League tournaments.
Caribbean
The three berths for the
Caribbean Football Union
The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) is the representative organization for football associations in the Caribbean. It represents 25 FIFA member nations, as well as 6 territories that are not affiliated to FIFA. The Union was established in Januar ...
(CFU), which consisted of 31 member associations, were allocated via the
CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship
The Caribbean Club Championship, also known as the CFU Club Championship or CFU Club Champions' Cup, was an annual international football competition held amongst association football clubs that are members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). T ...
and
CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield
The Caribbean Club Shield, also known as the CFU Club Shield, was an annual Caribbean football competition for clubs that were members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). It was a second-tier competition to the Caribbean Club Championship, an ...
, the first-tier and second-tier subcontinental Caribbean club tournaments. Since 2018, the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship had been open to teams from professional leagues, where they could qualify as champions or runners-up of their respective association's league in the previous season, while the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield was open to teams from non-professional leagues, where they could qualify as champions of their respective association's league in the previous season.
Besides the champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship which qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League, 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, qualified for the CONCACAF League. For the champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield to be eligible for the playoff, they had to comply with the minimum CONCACAF Club Licensing requirements for the CONCACAF League.
Teams
The following 22 teams (from eleven associations) qualified for the tournament.
*Ten teams entered in the round of 16: two each from Costa Rica, Honduras, and Panama, and one each from El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and the Caribbean.
*Twelve teams entered in the preliminary round: two each from El Salvador, Guatemala, and the Caribbean, and one each from Canada, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, and Belize.
Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, the deadline for registration was extended to 28 June 2020.
;Notes
Draw
The draw for the 2020 CONCACAF League was held on 21 September 2020, 19:00
EDT (
UTC−4), at the CONCACAF headquarters in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
, United States.
The draw determined each tie in the preliminary round (numbered 1 through 6) between a team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2, each containing six teams. A team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2 were drawn into each tie. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other in the preliminary round except for "
wildcard
Wild card most commonly refers to:
* Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games
* Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...
" teams which could replace a team from another association.
The draw also determined each tie in the round of 16 (numbered 1 through 8) between a team from Pot 3 and a team from Pot 4, each containing eight teams, with the six preliminary round winners, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, in Pot 4. A team from Pot 3 and a team from Pot 4 were drawn into each tie.
The seeding of teams was based on the CONCACAF Club Index. The CONCACAF Club Index, instead of ranking each team, was based on the on-field performance of the teams that had 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 or CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF used the following formula:
Teams qualified for the CONCACAF League based on criteria set by their association (e.g., tournament champions, runners-up, cup champions), resulting in an assigned slot (e.g., CRC1, CRC2) for each team.
The 22 teams were distributed in the pots as follows:
Format
In the CONCACAF League, the 22 teams played a
single-elimination tournament
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
. Each tie was played as a single match.
*In all rounds except the final, if the score was tied after the end of regulation, a
penalty shoot-out
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 ...
was used to determine the winner.
*In the final,
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 ...
was played if the score was tied after regulation. If the score was still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows.
Times are
Eastern Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...
, as listed by CONCACAF (local times are in parentheses):
*Times up to 31 October 2020 (originally scheduled preliminary round matches) are
Eastern Daylight Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...
, i.e.,
UTC−4.
*Times thereafter (all other matches) are
Eastern Standard Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...
, i.e.,
UTC−5.
Bracket
Preliminary round
In the preliminary round, the matchups were decided by draw: PR-1 through PR-6. The team from Pot 1 in the draw hosted the single-leg match.
Summary
Four of the six matches were played from 20–22 October 2020.
Due to CONCACAF's COVID-19 testing protocol, one match was cancelled, and another match was rescheduled to 4 November.
Matches
----
----
----
----
----
Round of 16
In the round of 16, the matchups were decided by draw: R16-1 through R16-8. The team from Pot 3 in the draw hosted the single-leg match, except for the match between Alajuelense and San Francisco, where the higher-seeded team based on the
CONCACAF Club Ranking hosted the match.
Summary
Six of the eight matches were played from 3–5 November 2020.
Due to CONCACAF's COVID-19 testing protocol, one match was rescheduled to 24 November. Another match was also rescheduled to 24 November due to the postponement of a preliminary round match.
Matches
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
Quarter-finals
In the quarter-finals, the matchups were determined as follows:
*QF1: Winner R16-1 vs. Winner R16-2
*QF2: Winner R16-3 vs. Winner R16-4
*QF3: Winner R16-5 vs. Winner R16-6
*QF4: Winner R16-7 vs. Winner R16-8
The higher-seeded team based on the
CONCACAF Club Ranking hosted the single-leg match.
Summary
The winners of the quarter-finals qualified for the
2021 CONCACAF Champions League
The 2021 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2021 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 56th edition of the premier footbal ...
. The losers entered the play-in round. The matches were played on 1–2 December 2020.
Matches
----
----
----
Play-in round
In the play-in, the matchups were determined as follows:
*PI1: Loser QF1 vs. Loser QF2
*PI2: Loser QF3 vs. Loser QF4
The higher-seeded team based on the
CONCACAF Club Ranking hosted the single-leg match.
Summary
The winners of the play-in round qualified for the
2021 CONCACAF Champions League
The 2021 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2021 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 56th edition of the premier footbal ...
. The matches were played on 8 and 9 December 2020.
Matches
----
Semi-finals
In the semi-finals, the matchups were determined as follows:
*SF1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2
*SF2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4
The higher-seeded team based on the
CONCACAF Club Ranking hosted the single-leg match.
Summary
The matches were played on 20 and 22 January 2021.
Matches
----
Final
In the final (Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2), the higher-seeded team based on the
CONCACAF Club Ranking hosted the single-leg match.
Summary
The match was played on 3 February 2021.
Match
Top goalscorers
Qualification to CONCACAF Champions League
The top six teams qualified for the
2021 CONCACAF Champions League
The 2021 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2021 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 56th edition of the premier footbal ...
, i.e., champions, runners-up, both losing semi-finalists, and the two winners of the play-in round contested by the four losing quarter-finalists.
Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
See also
*
2021 CONCACAF Champions League
The 2021 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2021 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 56th edition of the premier footbal ...
Notes
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Concacaf League 2020
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
2
2021 CONCACAF Champions League
Association football events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
October 2020 sports events in North America
November 2020 sports events in North America
December 2020 sports events in North America
January 2021 sports events in North America
February 2021 sports events in North America