2020 CONCACAF League
The 2020 CONCACAF League will be the 4th edition of the CONCACAF League, a football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
The winners of the 2020 CONCACAF League and the next best five teams will qualify for the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League. Saprissa are the title holders.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CONCACAF announced on 23 June 2020 that the start of the tournament, which was scheduled to begin on 28 July 2020, had been postponed.
Qualification
A total of 22 teams participate in the CONCACAF League:- North American Zone: 1 team
- Central American Zone: 18 teams
- Caribbean Zone: 3 teams
North America
The one berth for the North American Zone is allocated to the Canadian Soccer Association through the Canadian Premier League, where the champions of the Finals, contested between the Spring and Fall season champions, qualify. 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, which consists of seven member associations, are 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 with two tournaments in one season, so the following teams qualify for the CONCACAF League:
- In the league of Costa Rica, both champions, and the non-champions with the best aggregate record, qualify. If there is any team which are champions of both tournaments, the non-champions with the second best aggregate record qualify.
- In the leagues of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama, both champions, and the runners-up with the better aggregate record, 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, both champions qualify. If there is any team which are champions of both tournaments, the runners-up with the better aggregate record qualify.
- In the league of Belize, the champions with the better aggregate record qualify.
Caribbean
The three berths for the Caribbean Football Union, which consists of 31 member associations, are allocated via the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship and CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield, 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 qualify 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, qualify for the CONCACAF League. For the champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield to be eligible for the playoff, they must comply with the minimum CONCACAF Club Licensing requirements for the CONCACAF League.
Teams
The following 22 teams qualify for the tournament.- Ten teams enter 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 enter 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.
Association | Team | Entry round | Qualifying method | App | Previous best |
Forge FC | Preliminary round | 2019 Canadian Premier League Finals champions | 2nd | Round of 16 |
Association | Team | Entry round | Qualifying method | App | Previous best |
TBD | Round of 16 | 2020 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship runners-up | |||
TBD | Preliminary round | 2020 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship third place | |||
TBD | Preliminary round | 2020 Caribbean CONCACAF League playoff winners |
;Notes
Draw
The draw for the 2020 CONCACAF League will be held in summer 2020.
The draw determines each tie in the preliminary round between a team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2, each containing six teams. The "Bracket Position Pots" contains the bracket positions numbered 1 through 6 corresponding to each tie. The teams from Pot 1 are assigned a bracket position from Pot A and the teams from Pot 2 are assigned a bracket position from Pot B. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other in the preliminary round except for "wildcard" teams which replace a team from another association.
The draw also determines each tie in the round of 16 between a team from Pot 3 and a team from Pot 4, each containing eight teams, with the six preliminary round winners, whose identity is not known at the time of the draw, in Pot 4. The "Bracket Position Pots" contains the bracket positions numbered 1 through 8 corresponding to each tie. The teams from Pot 3 are assigned a bracket position from Pot A and the teams from Pot 4 are assigned a bracket position from Pot B.
The seeding of teams are 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:
Points per | Participation | Win | Draw | Stage advanced | Champions |
CONCACAF Champions League | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
CONCACAF League | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 |
Teams qualify for the CONCACAF League based on criteria set by their association, resulting in an assigned slot for each team.
The 22 teams are distributed in the pots as follows:
Pot | Rank | Slot | 2015–16 CCL | 2016–17 CCL | 2017 CL or 2018 CCL | 2018 CL or 2019 CCL | 2019 CL | Total | Team |
Pot 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 48.5 | Alajuelense | ||||
Pot 1 | 2 | 35 | FAS | ||||||
Pot 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 31.5 | Municipal Limeño | ||||
Pot 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 28 | Independiente | ||||
Pot 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 26.5 | Motagua | ||||
Pot 1 | 6 | 23.5 | |||||||
Pot 2 | 7 | 18 | Verdes | ||||||
Pot 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 17 | Comunicaciones | ||||
Pot 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 16.5 | Managua | ||||
Pot 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 12.5 | |||||
Pot 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | Antigua GFC | ||
Pot 2 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.5 | Forge FC |