2024 Concacaf Champions Cup draw results: Who will play who?

The former CONCACAF Champions League will now be known as the CONCACAF Champions Cup for the 2024 edition. It will offer a more polished version of CONCACAF’s premier international club tournament.

In addition to a rebranding, the 2024 tournament will include 27 new competitors hailing from all around Central and North America. Participating teams include Lionel Messi and Inter Miami, who advanced to the tournament’s Round of 16 as seeds after winning the 2023 Leagues Cup.

While other MLS teams like Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati face first-round opponents, these two clubs join Columbus in advancing to the round of 16. A club from the United States will be aiming to win the continental championship for the second time since 2000.

Only the 2022 Seattle Sounders’ triumph can be considered a modern-era Major League Soccer triumph. Only two Costa Rican clubs—in 2004 and 2005—have ever won; the others are all Mexican.

CONCACAF Champions Cup draw results

December 13, 2023, was the date for the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup draw. It set the stage for the first two rounds of the tournament and the route to continental championships for each club.

The following is the schedule of play for the teams who were drawn into the tournament’s Round One matchups on Wednesday, as per Concacaf:

Round One

RO Matchup #1: Philadelphia Union (USA) vs Deportivo Saprissa (CRC)
RO Matchup #2: Deportivo Toluca (MEX) vs CS Herediano (CRC) 
RO Matchup #3: Club America (MEX) vs Real Estelí FC (NCA)
RO Matchup #4: CD Guadalajara (MEX) vs Forge FC (CAN)
RO Matchup #5: New England Revolution (USA) vs CA Independiente (PAN)
RO Matchup #6: Houston Dynamo FC (USA) vs St. Louis CITY SC (USA)
RO Matchup #7: Tigres UANL (MEX) vs Vancouver Whitecaps FC (CAN)
RO Matchup #8: Orlando City SC (USA) vs Cavalry FC (CAN)
RO Matchup #9: CF Monterrey (MEX) vs Comunicaciones FC (GUA)
RO Matchup #10: FC Cincinnati (USA) vs Cavalier FC (JAM)
RO Matchup #11: Nashville SC (USA) vs Moca FC (DOM)

Home and away matches are a part of all four of the preliminary stages of the competition: Round One, Round of 16, Quarterfinals, and Semifinals. This is how the 16-team playoff bracket will look:

Round of 16

R16 Matchup #1: CF Pachuca (MEX) vs W1 
R16 Matchup #2: SV Robinhood (SUR) vs W2 
R16 Matchup #3: W3 vs W4 
R16 Matchup #4: LD Alajuelense (CRC) vs W5 
R16 Matchup #5: Columbus Crew (USA) vs W6 
R16 Matchup #6: W7 vs W8 
R16 Matchup #7: W9 vs W10 
R16 Matchup #8: Inter Miami CF (USA) vs W11 

The 16-team round will begin in February 2024 with the teams with the best aggregate scores from each match. On the other hand, June 2, 2024, will see the Final contested as a one-leg encounter.

CONCACAF is releasing the full round one schedule in the coming days.

What has changed for the 2024 edition?

From February to June of 2024, the Concacaf Champions Cup, the best men’s club tournament in the area, will have its 59th edition. Every year, the top teams from the Americas compete in the event, which has five rounds of elimination and determines who wins the club championship for the Confederation.

Additionally, this competition is the only way for clubs from this area to qualify for the newly enlarged 2025 Club World Cup. There is no group stage to begin the event; instead, it returns to its original format of a straight knockout bracket.

In contrast to previous years, which saw 16 teams compete in the knockout round, 27 teams will be entered in 2024. Before the tournament’s first round, five winners from other events will get byes to the round of 16.

PHOTOS: IMAGO.