The 2008–09 CONCACAF Champions League was the 44th edition of the premier

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club competition organized by

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. This was the first iteration of the competition to be known as

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

, having been previously known as the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. The championship began on August 26, 2008, and it concluded on May 12, 2009. Atlante of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

won the championship after defeating

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

, also from Mexico in the final. As champions, they represented CONCACAF in the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup.

Qualification

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

Central American Central America is a Subregion#North America, subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Ce ...

'', and ''

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

'' 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 was 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 was both the 2007 Invierno and 2008 Verano winners, so Alajuelense has claimed CRC2 as the 2008 Verano runners-up. ³ Luis Ángel Firpo was both the 2007 Apertura and 2008 Clausura winners, so Isidro Metapán has claimed SLV2 as the 2008 Clausura runners-up. ⁴ San Francisco was 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, was 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 tropical cyclone of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. The seventh tropical cyclone, third hurricane, and second major hurricane of the season, Gustav caused serious damage and Casualty (per ...

led to the cancellation of the first leg of the Harbour View - UNAM 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 (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play 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 only if the game is required t ...

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 pe ...

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 1