2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup

2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup
Tournament details
Dates	3 February – 30 May
Teams	27 (from TBD associations)
	← 2025 2027 →

Last updated October 15, 2025

The 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup is the 61st season of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the premier club association football tournament for North, Central America, and the Caribbean organized by CONCACAF. It is a five-round knockout tournament, with 27 teams qualified based on their national and zonal league and cup competitions; the first four rounds are played as a two-legged series at the home stadiums of the respective teams, ending with a one-legged final.^[1]

Qualification

Twenty-seven teams qualify for the tournament, with five qualifying directly to the round of 16. The remaining 22 teams enter in round one.^[1]

In addition to national league competitions in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, 12 of 27 berths are determined by international competitions, including the 2025 Leagues Cup (three), the 2025 CONCACAF Caribbean Cup (three), and the 2025 CONCACAF Central American Cup (six).^[1]

Two Canadian Premier League teams qualify automatically, while the United States-only 2025 U.S. Open Cup knockout competition and the Canada-only equivalent, the 2025 Canadian Championship, provide one berth each.

The winners of the three international competitions, along with the winner of MLS Cup 2025 and the champion of the 2024–25 Liga MX season, received the five byes into the round of 16.^[1]

Vancouver

Alajuelense

Xelajú

Olimpia

Real España

Mexico City

Monterrey

Toluca

Mexico City teams

América

Cruz Azul

UNAM

Monterrey teams

Monterrey

UANL

Vancouver teams

Whitecaps FC

Vancouver FC

class=notpageimage|

Location of teams of the 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup

North American Zone

Central American Zone

Caribbean Zone

Distribution

A total of 27 teams qualify for the tournament.^[1]

North American Zone: Eighteen teams (from three associations)
Central American Zone: Six teams
Caribbean Zone: Three teams

Five teams receive a bye into the round of 16.^[1]

The champion of the regional competitions for each of CONCACAF's constituent zones; North American, Central American, and Caribbean
The champions of Liga MX of Mexico and Major League Soccer of the United States and Canada (Liga MX had a split Apertura and Clausura system, so the champion team with the higher aggregate points took this place. If a team won both Apertura and Clausura, they took this place.)

The remaining 22 teams entered in round one.^[1]

The runners-up and third-place team from the MLS–Liga MX Leagues Cup
The runners-up and third-place team from the Caribbean Cup
The runners-up, remaining semi-finalists, and two play-in winners from the Central American Cup
The U.S. Open Cup winners
The Canadian Championship winners
The Canadian Premier League regular season winners and playoff champions
The remaining winner with the worse record, two runners-up, and the two best next clubs by season aggregate from Liga MX
The MLS Supporters' Shield winners
The remaining MLS Conference regular-season leader, and the next two teams in the Supporters' Shield table

Teams

The following table includes the number of appearances, last appearance, and previous best from the CONCACAF Champions Cup tournament.

Teams entering in round of 16 (5)
Competition	Team	Qualifying method	App.(last)	Previous best (last)
Caribbean Cup		2025 Caribbean Cup champions
Central American Cup		2025 Central American Cup champions
Leagues Cup	Seattle Sounders FC	2025 Leagues Cup champions	9th (2025)	Champions (2022)
Liga MX	Toluca	2024–25 Liga MX Apertura or Clausura winners with the higher aggregate table points	14th (2024)	Champions (2003)
Major League Soccer		MLS Cup 2025 champions

Teams entering in round one (22)
Competition	Team	Qualifying method	App.(last)	Previous best (last)
Canadian Championship	Vancouver FC	2025 Canadian Championship runners-up^{[Note CAN]}	1st	Debut
Canadian Premier League (2 berths)		2025 Canadian Premier League champions
Canadian Premier League (2 berths)		2025 CPL Shield winners
Caribbean Cup (2 berths)		2025 Caribbean Cup finalists
Caribbean Cup (2 berths)		2025 Caribbean Cup third place
Central American Cup (5 berths)		2025 Central American Cup runners-up
		2025 Central American Cup semi-finalists^{[Note CCAC]}
		2025 Central American Cup semi-finalists^{[Note CCAC]}
		2025 Central American Cup play-in winners
		2025 Central American Cup play-in winners
Leagues Cup (2 berths)	Inter Miami CF ^{[Note MLS]}	2025 Leagues Cup runners-up	3rd (2025)	Semi-finals (2025)
Leagues Cup (2 berths)	LA Galaxy	2025 Leagues Cup third place	12th (2025)	Champions (2000)
Liga MX (5 berths)	América	2024–25 Liga MX Apertura or Clausura winners with the lower aggregate table points	17th (2025)	Champions (2015–16)
	Monterrey	2024–25 Liga MX Apertura runners-up	13th (2025)	Champions (2021)
	Cruz Azul	Next three best clubs in 2024–25 Liga MX aggregate table^{[Note MEX]}	19th (2025)	Champions (2025)
	UANL		13th (2025)	Champions (2020)
	UNAM		13th (2025)	Champions (1989)
Major League Soccer (4 berths)	Philadelphia Union ^{[Note MLS]}	2025 Major League Soccer Supporters' Shield winners	4th (2024)	Semi-finals (2023)
		2025 Major League Soccer Western Conference regular season winners
	Vancouver Whitecaps FC ^{[Note MLS]}	Next best clubs in the 2025 Supporters' Shield standings	6th (2025)	Runners-up (2025)
	FC Cincinnati ^{[Note MLS]}	Next best clubs in the 2025 Supporters' Shield standings	3rd (2025)	Round of 16 (2025)
U.S. Open Cup	Nashville SC ^{[Note MLS]}	2025 U.S. Open Cup winners	2nd (2024)	Round of 16 (2024)

^
Canada (CAN): Vancouver FC qualified as runners-up because champions Vancouver Whitecaps FC already qualified through MLS standings.
^
Mexico (MEX): Since América won the Liga MX Apertura and were runners-up in the Clausura, a spot was passed to UNAM, the third-best team in the aggregate table not already qualified.
^
Central American Cup (CCAC): Alajuelense, Olimpia, Real España and Xelajú have all qualified for at least round one. The winners of the competition will qualify for the Round of 16 instead.
^
Major League Soccer (MLS): Team can still qualify for the Round of 16 as MLS Cup 2025 champions. Vancouver Whitecaps can also qualify as the Western Conference regular season winners.

Draw

The draw for the tournament will take place on 9 December 2025.^[1]

Round dates

The competition schedule is as follows.^[1]


Round	First leg	Second leg
Round one	3–5 and 10–12 February	17–19 and 24–26 February
Round of 16	10–12 March	17–19 March
Quarter-finals	7–9 April	14–16 April
Semi-finals	28–30 April	5–7 May
Final	30 May

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "2026 Champions Cup Key Details and Qualified Teams" (Press release). Miami, FL: CONCACAF. 29 August 2025. Retrieved 31 August 2025.

External links

Official website

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[cnote_Note_CAN] 
Canada (CAN): Vancouver FC qualified as runners-up because champions Vancouver Whitecaps FC already qualified through MLS standings.

[cnote_Note_MEX] 
Mexico (MEX): Since América won the Liga MX Apertura and were runners-up in the Clausura, a spot was passed to UNAM, the third-best team in the aggregate table not already qualified.

[cnote_Note_CCAC] 
Central American Cup (CCAC): Alajuelense, Olimpia, Real España and Xelajú have all qualified for at least round one. The winners of the competition will qualify for the Round of 16 instead.

[cnote_Note_MLS] 
Major League Soccer (MLS): Team can still qualify for the Round of 16 as MLS Cup 2025 champions. Vancouver Whitecaps can also qualify as the Western Conference regular season winners.

[Key_Details-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "2026 Champions Cup Key Details and Qualified Teams" (Press release). Miami, FL: CONCACAF. 29 August 2025. Retrieved 31 August 2025.

[1]

[Note CAN]

[Note CCAC]

[Note MLS]

[Note MEX]