The CONCACAF Champions' Cup is the annual international football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America, and the Caribbean). The competition is open to the leading domestic club teams in the region.
Starting in 2005, the champion of the competition also gained entry into the FIFA Club World Cup, giving clubs an added incentive for a strong participation and greater interest from fans. Also the Champions Cup Runner-up will be one of the three CONCACAF invitees to the Copa Sudamericana. In the 2005 tournament, eight teams competed - two from Mexico, two from the United States, three from Central America, and one from the Caribbean. Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica won the competition and participated in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship. In 2006, Club América won the tournament, and represented CONCACAF at the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup. In 2007, fellow Mexican club CF Pachuca won the tournament and is slated to appear in the Club World Cup. The CONCACAF Executive Committee at their 2006 November meeting decided to "act upon" a proposal at their next meeting by the CONCACAF Secretariat to develop the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup into a larger “Champions’ League” style event. The CONCACAF Executive Committee reported on November 14, 2007 some of the details.[1] The current Champions' Cup format will be used as planned in the Spring of 2008. Then, a newly expanded tournament will be conducted starting in August 2008 and concluding in May 2009. The setup will involve 24 teams initially and will feature a preliminary round featuring some of the teams to reduce the field to 16 teams, which will be separated into 4 groups of four teams.[2][3] After a group stage, knockout rounds will be used from the quarterfinals onward. The United States began entering the tournament in 1997, when CONCACAF granted their fledgling premier league, Major League Soccer, two berths in the tournament. Initially, MLS awarded the berths to the participants in the MLS Cup championship game. Beginning with the 2007 tournament, however, MLS has awarded its berths to the MLS Cup champion and the MLS Supporters' Shield winner. If the MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield are won by the same team, the second berth will go to the regular season runners-up.
CF Pachuca (2 times)
CONCACAF Champions' Cup 2008
Saprissa
Transvaal
Olimpia
Defence Force
Municipal
Los Angeles Galaxy
Violette
FAS
Netherlands Antilles
Cuba
