The 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2016–17 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 9th edition of the
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, ...
under its current name, and overall the 52nd edition of the premier
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
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
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
,
Central America
Central America is a 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. Central America is usually ...
, and the
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 ...
.
Pachuca
Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...
won their fifth title, and their first since
2009–10, by defeating
UANL 2–1 on aggregate in the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
. As the winner of the 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League, Pachuca qualified as the CONCACAF representative at the
2017 FIFA Club World Cup
The 2017 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2017 presented by Alibaba Cloud for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament betwee ...
in the United Arab Emirates.
América won the previous two tournaments, but did not qualify for this tournament and were unable to defend their title.
Qualification
A total of 24 teams participated in the CONCACAF Champions League: nine from the
North American Zone (from three associations), twelve from the
Central American Zone (from at most seven associations), and three from the
Caribbean Zone (from at most three associations).
Therefore, a maximum of 13 out of the 41
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 ...
member associations could participate in the tournament.
Clubs could be disqualified and replaced by a club from another association if the club did not have an available stadium that met CONCACAF regulations for safety. If a club's own stadium failed to meet the set standards then it could find a suitable replacement stadium within its own country. However, if it was still determined that the club could not provide the adequate facilities then it ran the risk of being replaced.
North America
Nine teams from the
North American Football Union
The North American Football Union (NAFU; ; ) is a regional grouping under CONCACAF of national football organizations in the ''North American Zone''. The NAFU has no organizational structure. The statutes say "''CONCACAF shall ''recognize'' ... ...
(NAFU) qualified to the Champions League. The allocation to the three NAFU member associations was as follows: four berths for each of Mexico and the United States, and one berth for Canada.
For Mexico, the winners and runners-up of the
Liga MX
Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...
Apertura and Clausura tournaments earned berths in Pot 3 of the tournament's group stage. If a team reached both tournament finals, the vacated berth was reallocated using a formula, based on regular season records, that ensured that two teams qualified via each tournament.
For the United States, three berths were allocated through the
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
(MLS) regular season and playoffs, to the
MLS Cup
MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...
winners and the regular season Eastern Conference and Western Conference winners (if U.S.-based); the fourth berth was allocated to the winner of its domestic cup competition, the
U.S. Open Cup. All four teams were placed in Pot 3. If a team qualified through multiple berths, or if any of the MLS berths were taken by a Canada-based MLS team, the berth was reallocated to the best U.S.-based team in the
Supporters' Shield
The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 199 ...
table which had failed to otherwise qualify.
For Canada, the winners of the domestic cup competition, the
Voyageurs Cup (competed for in the
Canadian Championship
The Canadian Championship () is an annual soccer tournament contested by Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It is contested by Major League Soccer sides Toronto FC, Va ...
), earned the lone Canadian berth into the tournament, in Pot 2 (moved from Pot 1 in the previous edition).
Central America
Twelve teams from 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 P ...
(UNCAF) qualified to the Champions League. The allocation to the seven UNCAF member associations was as follows: two berths for each of Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and El Salvador, and one berth for each of Nicaragua and Belize. The teams from Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, and the first team from Panama were placed in Pot 2, and the second team from Panama and the teams from El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Belize were placed in Pot 1 (second team from Panama moved from Pot 2 in the previous edition).
All of these leagues employed a
split season with two tournaments in one year, so both tournament champions qualified if there were two available berths (if the same team won both tournaments, the runner-up with the better aggregate record also qualified), or the champion with the better aggregate record qualified if there was only one available berth.
If one or more clubs was precluded, it was supplanted by a club from another Central American association. The reallocation was based on results from previous Champions League tournaments.
Caribbean
Three teams from the
Caribbean Football Union
The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) is the representative organization for football (soccer), football associations in the Caribbean. It represents 25 FIFA member nations, as well as 6 territories that are not affiliated with FIFA. The Union was e ...
(CFU) qualified to the Champions League. The three berths, in Pot 1, were allocated to the top three finishers of the
CFU 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). ...
, a subcontinental tournament open to clubs from the 31 CFU member associations. In order for a team to qualify for the CFU Club Championship, they usually needed to finish as the champions or runners-up of their respective association's league in the previous season, but professional teams could also be selected by their associations if they played in the league of another country.
If any Caribbean club was precluded, it was supplanted by the fourth-place finisher from the CFU Club Championship.
Teams
The following 24 teams (from 12 associations) qualified for the tournament.
''In the following table, the number of appearances, last appearance, and previous best result count only those in the
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, ...
era starting from 2008–09 (not counting those in the era of the Champions' Cup from 1962 to 2008).''
Draw
Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows.
Group stage
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Knockout stage
Seeding
Bracket
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Top goalscorers
Awards
Prize money
The four semi-finalists received prize money from CONCACAF.
See also
*
2017 FIFA Club World Cup
The 2017 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2017 presented by Alibaba Cloud for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament betwee ...
References
External links
CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 Concacaf Champions League