| Tourney Name: | CONCACAF Champions League |
| Year: | 2020 |
| Other Titles: | 2020 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League |
| Size: | 275 |
| Dates: | 18 February – 12 March 2020; 15–22 December 2020 |
| Num Teams: | 16 |
| Associations: | 8 |
| Champion Other: | UANL |
| Count: | 1 |
| Second Other: | Los Angeles FC |
| Matches: | 26 |
| Goals: | 77 |
| Top Scorer: |  André-Pierre Gignac |
| Player: | André-Pierre Gignac |
| Goalkeeper: |  Nahuel Guzmán |
| Young Player: |  Diego Palacios |
| Fair Play: | UANL |
| Prevseason: | 2019 |
| Nextseason: | 2021 |
The 2020 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2020 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 12th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 55th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.[1]
Starting from this season, only 10 of the 16 teams directly qualified for the tournament, with the other six berths allocated through the CONCACAF League, where previously only the winners would have qualified.[2]
UANL defeated Los Angeles FC in the final to win their first CONCACAF club title. As the winners of the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League, they qualified for the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar. Monterrey were the title holders, but did not qualify for this tournament and were unable to defend their title.
On 12 March 2020, CONCACAF suspended the tournament with immediate effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] On 13 March, CONCACAF suspended all competitions scheduled over the next 30 days.[4]
On 2 November 2020, it was announced that the tournament would resume at a centralized location in the United States from 15 to 22 December 2020, with the sole quarter-final to have not completed a first leg, semi-finals, and final played as single-leg matches. On 10 November, Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida was designated as the host for the remainder of the tournament, which consisted of seven matches, including the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final.[5]
A total of 16 teams participated in the CONCACAF Champions League:
9 teams (from three associations)
1 team (from one association)
Therefore, teams from between 6 and 10 out of the 41 CONCACAF member associations could participate in the CONCACAF Champions League.
The nine direct berths for the North American Football Union (NAFU), which consisted of three member associations, were allocated as follows: four berths each for Mexico and the United States, and one berth for Canada.
For Mexico, the champions and runners-up of the Liga MX Apertura and Clausura Liguilla (playoff) tournaments qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. If there was any team which were finalists of both tournaments, 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, four teams qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League, three through the Major League Soccer (MLS) season and one through its domestic cup competition:
If there was any team which qualified through multiple berths, or if there was any Canada-based MLS team which were champions of the MLS Cup, the Supporters' Shield, or conference regular season, the vacated berth was reallocated to the U.S.-based team with the best MLS regular season record not yet qualified.
For Canada, the champions of the 2019 Canadian Championship, its domestic cup competition which awards the Voyageurs Cup, qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. While some Canada-based teams competed in MLS, they could not qualify through either the MLS regular season or playoffs. Moreover, a team from the Canadian Premier League qualified for the CONCACAF League, meaning a second team from Canada (and a tenth team from North America) could potentially qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.
Teams from the Central American Football Union (UNCAF), which consisted of seven member associations, had to qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through the CONCACAF League. A total of eighteen teams from Central America qualified for the CONCACAF League through their domestic leagues. As all but four teams in the CONCACAF League were from Central America, between two and six teams from Central America could qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.
Teams from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), which consisted of 31 member associations, qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League either as champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship, the first-tier subcontinental Caribbean club tournament, or through the CONCACAF League. Since 2018, the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship was open to teams from professional leagues, where they could qualify as champions or runners-up of their respective association's league in the previous season.[6]
Another three teams from the Caribbean qualified for the CONCACAF League, which were 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, the second-tier subcontinental Caribbean club tournament which was open to teams from non-professional leagues, where they could qualify as champions of their respective association's league in the previous season. Therefore, between one and four teams from the Caribbean could qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.
Besides the ten direct entrants of the CONCACAF Champions League, another 22 teams (1 from North America, 18 from Central America, and 3 from the Caribbean) qualified for the CONCACAF League, a tournament held from July to November prior to the CONCACAF Champions League.[7] The top six teams of the CONCACAF League, i.e., champions, runners-up, both losing semi-finalists, and best two losing quarter-finalists, qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League.
The following 16 teams (from eight associations) qualified for the tournament.
9 teams (from three associations)
6 teams (from four associations), all of them qualified through the 2019 CONCACAF League
1 team (from one association)
In the following table, the number of appearances, last appearance, and previous best result count only those in the CONCACAF Champions League era starting from 2008–09 (not counting those in the era of the Champions' Cup from 1962 to 2008).
| width=15% | Association | width=15% | Team | width=48% | Qualifying method | width=8% | width=14% | Previous best | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| América | 2018 Apertura champions | 5th | Champions | ||||||
| UANL | 2019 Clausura champions | 6th | Runners-up | ||||||
| Cruz Azul | 2018 Apertura runners-up | 6th | Champions | ||||||
| León | 2019 Clausura runners-up | 2nd | Group stage | ||||||
| Seattle Sounders FC | 2019 MLS Cup champions | 6th | Semi-finals | ||||||
| Los Angeles FC | 2019 MLS Supporters' Shield champions | 1st | Debut | ||||||
| New York City FC | 2019 MLS Eastern Conference regular season champions | 1st | Debut | ||||||
| Atlanta United FC | 2019 U.S. Open Cup champions | 2nd | Quarter-finals | ||||||
| Montreal Impact | 2019 Canadian Championship champions | 4th | Runners-up | ||||||
| Portmore United | 2019 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship champions | 1st | Debut |
| width=15% | Association | width=15% | Team | width=48% | Qualifying method | width=8% | width=14% | Previous best | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saprissa | 2019 CONCACAF League champions (1st overall) | 9th | Semi-finals | ||||||
| San Carlos | 2019 CONCACAF League best ranked losing quarter-finalists (5th overall) | 1st | Debut | ||||||
| Alianza | 2019 CONCACAF League worse ranked losing semi-finalists (4th overall) | 4th | Round of 16 | ||||||
| Comunicaciones | 2019 CONCACAF League 2nd best ranked losing quarter-finalists (6th overall) | 6th | Quarter-finals | ||||||
| Motagua | 2019 CONCACAF League runners-up (2nd overall) | 5th | Round of 16 | ||||||
| Olimpia | 2019 CONCACAF League better ranked losing semi-finalists (3rd overall) | 11th | Quarter-finals |
The draw for the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League was held on 9 December 2019, 21:00 EST (local time 20:00 CST), at the University of the Cloister of Sor Juana in Mexico City.[8] [9]
The draw determined each tie in the round of 16 (numbered 1 through 8) between a team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2, each containing eight teams. The "Bracket Position Pots" (Pot A and Pot B) contained the bracket positions numbered 1 through 8 corresponding to each tie. The teams from Pot 1 were assigned a bracket position from Pot A and the teams from Pot 2 were assigned a bracket position from Pot B. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other in the round of 16 except for "wildcard" teams which replaced a team from another association.[10]
The seeding of teams was based on the CONCACAF Club Index.[11] The CONCACAF Club Index, instead of ranking each team, was based on the on-field performance of the teams that had occupied the respective qualifying slots in the previous five editions of the CONCACAF Champions League. To determine the total points awarded to a slot in any single edition of the CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF used the following formula:
The slots were assigned by the following rules:[12]
The 16 teams were distributed in the pots as follows:[13] [14]
| Pot | Rank | Slot | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2018 | 2019 | Total | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pot 1 | 1 | 113 | Cruz Azul | ||||||
| 2 | 112 | UANL | |||||||
| 3 | 103 | América | |||||||
| 4 | 79 | Montreal Impact | |||||||
| 5 | 77 | New York City FC | |||||||
| 6 | 60 | Atlanta United FC | |||||||
| 7 | 58 | Los Angeles FC | |||||||
| 8 | 58 | Seattle Sounders FC | |||||||
| Pot 2 | 9 | 53 | San Carlos | ||||||
| 10 | 50 | León | |||||||
| 11 | 45 | Motagua | |||||||
| 12 | 42 | Saprissa | |||||||
| 13 | 0 | 35 | Olimpia | ||||||
| 14 | 32 | Alianza | |||||||
| 15 | 0 | 32 | Comunicaciones | ||||||
| 16 | 25 | Portmore United |
In the CONCACAF Champions League, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament. Each tie was initially played on a home-and-away two-legged basis.
The schedule of the competition was as follows.
| Round | First leg | Second leg | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Round of 16 | 18–20 February | 25–27 February | |
| Quarter-finals | 10–11 March | 15–16 December (originally 17–18 March) | |
| 16 December (single-leg match, first leg originally 12 March, second leg originally 18 March) | |||
| Semi-finals | 19 December (first leg originally 7–9 April, second leg originally 14–16 April) | ||
| Final | 22 December (first leg originally 28–30 April, second leg originally 5–7 May) | ||
Times are Eastern Time, as listed by CONCACAF (local times are in parentheses):[16]
In the round of 16, the matchups were decided by draw: R16-1 through R16-8. The teams from Pot 1 in the draw hosted the second leg.
The first legs were played from 18–20 February, and the second legs were played from 25–27 February 2020.[17]
|}
Atlanta United FC won 4–1 on aggregate.----Tied 2–2 on aggregate. América won 5–3 on penalties.----Cruz Azul won 6–1 on aggregate.----Los Angeles FC won 3–2 on aggregate.----UANL won 5–4 on aggregate.----New York City FC won 6–3 on aggregate.----Tied 4–4 on aggregate. Olimpia won 4–2 on penalties.----Tied 2–2 on aggregate. Montreal Impact won on away goals.
In the quarter-finals, the matchups were determined as follows:
The winners of round of 16 matchups 1, 3, 5 and 7 were originally planned to host the second leg.
The first legs were played from 10–11 March, with the final match originally scheduled to be played on 12 March, and the second legs were originally scheduled to be played from 17–18 March 2020.[18] Following resumption of the tournament, the second legs were played at Exploria Stadium in Orlando from 15–16 December 2020.[19] [20] The two-leg match between Los Angeles FC and Cruz Azul was changed to a single-leg match as a result.
||colspan="2" |}
América won 3–1 on aggregate.--------UANL won 5–0 on aggregate.----Tied 2–2 on aggregate. Olimpia won on away goals.
In the semi-finals, the matchups were determined as follows:
The first legs were originally scheduled to be played from 7–9 April, and the second legs were originally scheduled to be played from 14–16 April 2020. Following resumption of the tournament, the semi-finals were played at Exploria Stadium in Orlando on 19 December 2020 as single-leg matches.[20]
|}
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See main article: 2020 CONCACAF Champions League final. The first leg was originally scheduled to be played between 28 and 30 April, and the second leg was originally scheduled to be played between 5 and 7 May 2020. Following resumption of the tournament, the final was played at Exploria Stadium in Orlando on 22 December 2020 as a single-leg match.[20]
| Rank | Player | Club | By round | Total goals | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|    | |||||||||
| 1 | André-Pierre Gignac | UANL | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 2 |  Carlos Vela | Los Angeles FC | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |||
| 3 |  Héber | New York City FC | 3 | 3 | |||||
| 4 |  Justin Arboleda | Olimpia | 2 | 2 | |||||
 Alexander Callens | New York City FC | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Gonzalo Martínez | Atlanta United FC | 2 | |||||||
 Josef Martínez | Atlanta United FC | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Lucas Passerini | Cruz Azul | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| João Paulo | Seattle Sounders FC | 1 | 1 | ||||||
 Juan Carlos Portillo | Alianza | 2 | |||||||
| Diego Rossi | Los Angeles FC | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Award | Player | Club | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Ball[21] | André-Pierre Gignac | UANL | |
| Golden Boot[22] | André-Pierre Gignac | UANL | |
| Golden Glove[23] | Nahuel Guzmán | UANL | |
| Best Young Player[24] | Diego Palacios | Los Angeles FC | |
| Fair Play Award[25] | — | UANL |
| Position | Player | Club | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nahuel Guzmán | UANL | ||
| align=center rowspan=4 | Diego Palacios | Los Angeles FC | |
| Jesús Murillo | Los Angeles FC | ||
| Hugo Ayala | UANL | ||
| Luis Rodríguez | UANL | ||
| align=center rowspan=3 | Edwin Rodríguez | Olimpia | |
| Guido Pizarro | UANL | ||
| Luis Quiñones | UANL | ||
| align=center rowspan=3 | Diego Rossi | Los Angeles FC | |
| André-Pierre Gignac | UANL | ||
| Carlos Vela | Los Angeles FC |