The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) today announced the date and procedures for the official draw of the 2019 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League. The 11th edition of the region’s premier club championship will feature representatives from nine Concacaf Member Associations.
The official draw will be conducted on Monday, December 3 at 6:00 pm CT, live from the Univision Deportes Studios. The coaches from the participating clubs, as well as guests from the world of international football will be present at the gala event.
Fans will be able to follow all the action through the Confederation’s partner networks, including Univision Deportes (United States), Yahoo Sports (United States), Fox Sports Latin America (Mexico & Central America), Flow Sports (Caribbean) and other local partners. For other territories, the event will be available on Concacaf GO (subject to territory restrictions).
The fifteen clubs that have qualified for the 2019 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League are (in alphabetical order): Alianza FC (SLV), Atlanta United FC (USA), Atletico Pantoja (DOM), CD Guastatoya (GUA), CD Marathon (HON), CF Monterrey (MEX), Club Atletico Independiente (PAN), Club Deportivo Toluca (MEX), CS Herediano (CRC), Deportivo Saprissa (CRC), Houston Dynamo (USA), Santos Laguna (MEX), Sporting Kansas City (USA), Tigres UANL (MEX) and Toronto FC (CAN).
Draw Procedures
The draw, to be executed by Concacaf Chief Football Officer Manolo Zubiria, with the assistance of a range of former stars from across the Confederation, will use a double-blind system involving four pots - two “Club Pots” and two “Bracket Position Pots”. The two “Club Pots” will each contain eight of the participating clubs, while the two “Bracket Position Pots” will contain the sixteen possible positions for the participating clubs.
Based on the 2019 Concacaf Champions League Club Index, which ranks clubs based on the performance of the countries over the last five seasons of play in the competition, the clubs will be distributed in the "Club Pots" as follows (in alphabetical order):
Pot 1: CF Monterrey (MEX), Club Deportivo Toluca (MEX), Santos Laguna (MEX), Tigres UANL (MEX), Toronto FC (CAN), USA 1, USA 3 and USA 4
Pot 2: Alianza FC (SLV), Atletico Pantoja (DOM), CD Guastatoya (GUA), CD Marathon (HON), CS Herediano (CRC), Deportivo Saprissa (CRC), Independiente FC (PAN) and USA 2.
The “Bracket Position Pots” (A and B) will contain the bracket positions as follows:
Pot A: A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8
Pot B: B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8
The draw will begin when the first club is selected from Pot 1, followed by a bracket position from Pot A. Once the position for all the clubs from Pot 1 has been drawn, using Pot A, clubs from Pot 2 will be drawn using the same procedure and Pot B. Each first round pairing will feature one team from each pot. Additionally, clubs from the same Member Association cannot face each other in the first round.
For the Round of 16, clubs drawn from Pot 1 will play away first, and host the return matches. The winners of matchups number 1, 3, 5 and 7, will host the return leg of the quarterfinals and will face the winners of matchups 2, 4, 6 and 8 respectively.
For the semifinals, the initial bracket will determine the matchups. Additionally, clubs will be ranked per their performance in the round of 16 and the quarterfinals, using the competition’s tie-breaking procedure. The highest ranked club in each semifinal matchup will host the 2nd leg matches. The same aggregate performance procedure will be applied to determine who will host the second leg Final. Detailed information can be found in the 2019 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Regulations.
