The 2021 CONCACAF League (officially the 2021 Scotiabank CONCACAF League for sponsorship purposes) was the 5th 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 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 language, Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CON ...
, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Comunicaciones
Comunicaciones Fútbol Club S.A., better known as Comunicaciones F.C. or Comunicaciones, are a football club based in Guatemala City. They compete in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football. The most popular and successful footba ...
defeated
Motagua in the final to win their first CONCACAF League title. As winners, they and the next best five teams qualifed for the
2022 CONCACAF Champions League
The 2022 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2022 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League) was the 14th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 57th edition of the premier football club competition org ...
.
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 ...
were the title holders but were eliminated by
Guastatoya
Guastatoya is a city in Guatemala. It is the capital and largest city of the department of El Progreso. The Guastatoya Water Park is located in the city. It is situated 73 km from the city of Guatemala. The city was leveled in 1976 from a ...
in the Round of 16.
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 language, Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CON ...
member associations may 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 soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary national soccer league compe ...
, where the champions, decided by the
Canadian Premier League Finals contested between the top two teams of the group stage, qualifed. They are the second Canadian representative included in CONCACAF competitions, besides the
Canadian Championship champions which qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.
Central America
The 18 berths for the
Central American Football Union (UNCAF), which consists 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 employ 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 qualifed for the CONCACAF League:
*In the league of
Costa Rica, both champions, and the non-champions with the best Clausura record, qualified. If there was any team which were champions of both tournaments, the non-champions with the second best Clausura record qualified.
*In the leagues of
El Salvador,
Guatemala,
Honduras, 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 Co ...
, both champions, 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
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 countr ...
, 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
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 are champions of both tournaments) qualify.
If teams from any Central American associations were excluded, they would 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 (CFU), which consists 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 is open to teams from professional leagues, where they can qualify as champions or runners-up of their respective association's league in the previous season, while the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield is open to teams from non-professional leagues, where they can qualify as champions of their respective association's league in the previous season.
Besides the champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship which qualifed 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, qualifed for the CONCACAF League. For the champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield to be eligible for the playoff, they were required 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.
;Notes
Draw
The draw for the 2021 CONCACAF League was held on 16 June 2021, 20:00
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 coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
, United States.
For the preliminary round, the draw determined each tie (numbered 1 through 6) between a team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2, each containing six teams. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other 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 replace a team from another association.
For the round of 16, the draw determined each tie (numbered 1 through 8) between a team from Pot 3 and a team from Pot 4, each containing eight teams. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other 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 replace a team from another association. The six preliminary round winners, whose identity is not known at the time of the draw, are in Pot 4 and can be drawn into the same tie with another team from the same association.
The seeding of teams was based on the CONCACAF Club Index. 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 or CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF uses 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 on a home-and-away
two-legged basis.
*In the preliminary round, round of 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals, the
away goals rule was applied if the aggregate score is tied after the second leg. If still tied, the
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 pe ...
was used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 12.8).
*In the final, the away goals rule was not applied, and
extra time would be played if the aggregate score was tied after the second leg. If the aggregate score was still tied after extra time, the
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 pe ...
would used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 12.9).
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is 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 por ...
, as listed by CONCACAF (local times are in parentheses):
*Times up to 6 November 2021 (preliminary round, round of 16, and quarter-finals) 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 p ...
, i.e.,
UTC−4.
*Times thereafter (semi-finals and final) are
Eastern Standard Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 U.S. states, 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 ...
, i.e.,
UTC−5.
Bracket
Preliminary round
In the preliminary round, the matchups were decided by draw: PR-1 through PR-6. The teams from Pot 1 in the draw host the second leg.
Summary
The first legs were played on 3–5 August, and the second legs were played on 17–19 August 2021.
Matches
''Comunicaciones won 4–1 on aggregate.''
----
''Marathón won 3–1 on aggregate.''
----
''Santos de Guápiles won 6–1 on aggregate.''
----
''Universitario advance on
walkover
John_Carpenter_was_disqualified,_prompting_his_teammates_John_Taylor_(athlete).html" ;"title="John_Carpenter_(athlete).html" "title="Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres">men's 400 metres running in a walkover. Americ ...
.''
----
''Santa Lucía won 5–1 on aggregate.''
----
''Forge FC won 5–3 on aggregate.''
Round of 16
In the round of 16, the matchups were decided by draw: R16-1 through R16-6. The teams from Pot 3 in the draw host the second leg.
On 25 September 2021, CONCACAF announced that
Inter Moengotapoe
Inter Moengotapoe (sometimes rendered Inter Moengo Tapoe or just IMT) is a Surinamese football club, based in Moengo
Moengo () is a town in Suriname, located in the Marowijne district, between Paramaribo and the border town Albina on the Cot ...
and
C.D. Olimpia
Club Deportivo Olimpia is a professional Honduran football club based in Tegucigalpa, Francisco Morazán. The club is the nation's most successful team both in the domestic league and in international club competitions.
History
Olimpia was f ...
would be disqualified from the competition due to rule breaches following the first leg of their round of 16 fixture, including an alleged payment from Inter Moengotapoe owner and player
Ronnie Brunswijk
Ronnie Brunswijk (; born 7 March 1961) is a Surinamese politician, businessman, footballer, convicted drug trafficker, former rebel leader, and the current Vice President of Suriname. Brunswijk served in the early 1980s as the personal bodyguard ...
to several Olimpia players.
Summary
The first legs were played on 21–23 September, and the second legs were played on 28–30 September 2021.
Matches
''Comunicaciones won 3–1 on aggregate.''
----
''Saprissa won 6–2 on aggregate.''
----
''3–3 on aggregate. Guastatoya won on away goals.''
----
''Inter Moengotapoe and Olimpia were disqualified from the tournament by CONCACAF due to rule breaches following the first leg match.''
----
''Forge FC won 2–0 on aggregate.''
----
''Santos won 3–0 on aggregate.''
----
''Motagua won 3–2 on aggregate.''
----
''2–2 on aggregate. Marathón won 5–4 on penalties.''
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 winners of round of 16 matchups 1, 3, 5, 7 host the second leg.
Summary
The first legs were played on 20 and 21 October, and the second legs were played on 2 and 4 November 2021.
Matches
''5–5 on aggregate. Comunicaciones won on away goals.''
----
''Forge FC won 4–3 on aggregate.''
----
''Motagua won 4–0 on aggregate.''
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 semi-finalists in each tie which had the better performance in previous rounds (excluding preliminary round) hosted the second leg.
Summary
The first legs were played from 23–25 November, and the second legs were played from 30 November – 2 December 2021.
Matches
''Comunicaciones won 3–1 on aggregate.''
----
''2–2 on aggregate. Motagua won on away goals.''
Final
In the final (Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2), the finalists which had the better performance in previous rounds (excluding preliminary round) hosted the second leg.
Summary
The first leg was played on 8 December, and the second leg was played on 14 December 2021.
Matches
''Comunicaciones won 6–3 on aggregate.''
Top goalscorers
Qualification to CONCACAF Champions League
Starting from the round of 16, teams are ranked based on their results (excluding preliminary round). Based on the ranking, the top six teams, i.e., champions, runners-up, both losing semi-finalists, and best two losing quarter-finalists, qualify for the
2022 CONCACAF Champions League
The 2022 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2022 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League) was the 14th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 57th edition of the premier football club competition org ...
.
Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
See also
*
2022 CONCACAF Champions League
The 2022 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2022 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League) was the 14th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 57th edition of the premier football club competition org ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Concacaf League 2021
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 ...
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
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 ...
2022 CONCACAF Champions League
August 2021 sports events in North America
September 2021 sports events in North America
October 2021 sports events in North America
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