2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League

The 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 49th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Monterrey were the three-time defending champions, but were unable to defend their title as they failed to qualify for the tournament.

2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League
Tournament details
DatesAugust 6, 2013 – April 23, 2014
Teams24 (from 11 associations)
Final positions
Champions Cruz Azul (6th title)
Runners-up Toluca
Tournament statistics
Matches played62
Goals scored151 (2.44 per match)
Top scorer(s) Raúl Nava
(7 goals)
Best player(s) Mariano Pavone
Best goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera

Cruz Azul won a record-setting sixth CONCACAF club title (and their first during the Champions League era), after winning an all-Mexican final over Toluca on away goals.[1] As a result, they qualified as the CONCACAF representative at the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup.[2]

Qualification
Location of teams of the 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League from the North American Zone
Location of teams of the 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League from the Central American Zone
Location of teams of the 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League from the Caribbean Zone

Twenty-four teams participate in the CONCACAF Champions League: nine from the North American Zone, twelve from the Central American Zone, and three from the Caribbean Zone.

Clubs may be disqualified and replaced by a club from another association if the club does not have an available stadium that meets CONCACAF regulations for safety. If a club's own stadium fails to meet the set standards then it may find a suitable replacement stadium within its own country. However, if it is still determined that the club cannot provide the adequate facilities then it runs the risk of being replaced.

North America

Nine teams from the North American Football Union qualify to the Champions League. Mexico and the United States are each allocated four spots, the most of any of the CONCACAF's member associations, while Canada is granted one spot in the tournament.

For Mexico, the winners of the Liga MX Apertura and Clausura tournaments earn berths in Pot A of the tournament's group stage, while the Apertura and Clausura runners-up earn berths in Pot B.

For the United States, three spots are allocated through the Major League Soccer (MLS) regular season and playoffs; the fourth spot is allocated to the winner of its domestic cup competition, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The MLS Cup winner and the Supporters' Shield winner (if U.S.-based) are placed in Pot A; the MLS Cup runner-up (if U.S.-based) and the U.S. Open Cup winner are placed in Pot B. If any of the above spots are taken by a Canada-based MLS team, the Champions League place is allocated to the U.S.-based team with the best MLS regular season record who has failed to otherwise qualify.

For Canada, the winner of the domestic cup competition, the Voyageurs Cup competed for in the Canadian Championship, earns the lone Canadian berth into the tournament, in Pot B.

Central America

Twelve teams from the Central American Football Union qualify to the Champions League. The allocation is as follows: two teams from each of Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and El Salvador, and one team from each of Nicaragua and Belize.

For the Central American teams that qualify via split seasons, the aggregate record of the two tournaments within the season is used to determine which team gains the association's top spot. The pots of the teams are as follows:

  • The top teams from the leagues of Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and Panama are placed in Pot A.
  • The top team from the league of El Salvador, and the second teams from the leagues of Costa Rica and Honduras are placed in Pot B.
  • The second teams from the leagues of Guatemala, Panama and El Salvador, and the teams from the leagues of Nicaragua and Belize are placed in Pot C.

If one or more clubs is precluded, it is supplanted by a club from another Central American association. The reallocation is based on results from previous Champions League tournaments.

Caribbean

Three teams from the Caribbean Football Union qualify to the Champions League. The three berths, in Pot C, are allocated to the top three finishers of the CFU Club Championship, a subcontinental tournament for clubs from associations of the Caribbean Football Union. In order for a team to qualify for the CFU Club Championship, they usually need to finish as the champion or runner-up of their respective association's league in the previous season, but professional teams may also be selected by their associations if they play in the league of another country.

If any Caribbean club is precluded, it is supplanted by the fourth-place finisher from the CFU Club Championship.

Teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament.

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).

Association Team Pot Qualifying method App Last App Previous Best
North America (9 teams)
Mexico
4 berths		 Tijuana A 2012 Apertura champions 1st N/A N/A
Toluca B 2012 Apertura runners-up 3rd 2010–11 Semifinals
América A 2013 Clausura champions 1st N/A N/A
Cruz Azul B 2013 Clausura runners-up 4th 2010–11 Runner-up
United States
4 berths		 LA Galaxy A 2012 MLS Cup champions 4th 2012–13 Semifinals
San Jose Earthquakes A 2012 MLS Supporters' Shield champions 1st N/A N/A
Houston Dynamo B 2012 MLS Cup runners-up 4th 2012–13 Quarterfinals
Sporting Kansas City B 2012 U.S. Open Cup champions 1st N/A N/A
Canada
1 berth		 Montreal Impact B 2013 Canadian Championship champions 2nd[A] 2008–09 Quarterfinals
Central America (12 teams)
Costa Rica
2 (+1) berths[B]		 Alajuelense B 2012 Invierno champions 4th 2012–13 Group stage
Herediano A 2013 Verano champions 4th 2012–13 Quarterfinals
Cartaginés C 2013 Verano runners-up 1st N/A N/A
Honduras
2 berths		 Olimpia A 2012 Apertura champions
2013 Clausura champions		 6th 2012–13 Quarterfinals
Victoria B Runners-up with better aggregate record in 2012–13 season 1st N/A N/A
Guatemala
2 berths		 Comunicaciones A 2012 Apertura champions
2013 Clausura champions		 3rd 2011–12 Quarterfinals
Heredia C Runners-up with better aggregate record in 2012–13 season 1st N/A N/A
Panama
2 berths		 Árabe Unido A 2012 Apertura champions 3rd 2010–11 Quarterfinals
Sporting San Miguelito C 2013 Clausura champions 1st N/A N/A
El Salvador
2 berths		 Isidro Metapán B 2012 Apertura champions 6th 2012–13 Quarterfinals
Luis Ángel Firpo C 2013 Clausura champions 3rd 2009–10 Group stage
Nicaragua
1 berth		 Real Estelí C 2012 Apertura champions
2013 Clausura champions		 4th 2012–13 Group stage
Caribbean (3 teams)
Trinidad and Tobago W Connection C 2013 CFU Club Championship Group 1 winners[C] 3rd 2012–13 Group stage
Caledonia AIA C 2013 CFU Club Championship Playoff round winners[C] 2nd 2012–13 Group stage
Haiti Valencia C 2013 CFU Club Championship Group 2 winners[C] 1st N/A N/A
Notes
  1. ^
    Montreal Impact's previous appearance in 2008–09 was made by an earlier incarnation of the franchise with the same name, which played in the USL First Division. The current MLS club began play in 2012.
  2. ^
    Because Belize could not provide a stadium which met CONCACAF'S minimum standards for the Champions League, the berth normally reserved for Belize was reallocated to Costa Rica, based on the results of the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League.[3]
  3. ^ a b c
    No final round was played in the 2013 CFU Club Championship. W Connection and Valencia, the two first round group winners, and Caledonia AIA, the playoff round winner between the two first round group runners-up, qualified for the 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League.

Draw

The draw for the group stage was held on June 3, 2013 at Doral, Florida, United States.[4][5]

The 24 teams were drawn into eight groups of three, with each group containing one team from each of the three pots. The allocation of teams into pots was based on their national association and qualifying berth. Teams from the same association (excluding "wildcard" teams which replace a team from another association) could not be drawn with each other in the group stage, and each group was guaranteed to contain a team from either the United States or Mexico, meaning U.S. and Mexican teams could not play each other in the group stage.[6]

Pot A
Tijuana América LA Galaxy San Jose Earthquakes
Herediano Olimpia Comunicaciones Árabe Unido
Pot B
Toluca Cruz Azul Houston Dynamo Sporting Kansas City
Alajuelense Victoria Isidro Metapán Montreal Impact
Pot C
Heredia Luis Ángel Firpo Sporting San Miguelito Real Estelí
Cartaginés W Connection Valencia Caledonia AIA

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.[7][8]

Round First leg Second leg
Group stage Matchday 1 August 6–8, 2013
Matchday 2 August 20–22, 2013
Matchday 3 August 27–29, 2013
Matchday 4 September 17–19, 2013
Matchday 5 September 24–26, 2013
Matchday 6 October 22–24, 2013
Championship stage Quarterfinals March 10–12, 2014 March 18–20, 2014
Semifinals April 1–3, 2014 April 8–10, 2014
Final April 15–17, 2014 April 22–24, 2014

Group stage
Main article: 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League group stage

In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners of each group advanced to the championship stage.

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:[2]

  1. Greater number of points earned in matches between the teams concerned
  2. Greater goal difference in matches between the teams concerned
  3. Greater number of goals scored away from home in matches between the teams concerned
  4. Reapply first three criteria if two or more teams are still tied
  5. Greater goal difference in all group matches
  6. Greater number of goals scored in group matches
  7. Greater number of goals scored away in all group matches
  8. Drawing of lots

Group 1
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts ARA HOU WCO
Árabe Unido 4 3 0 1 7 3 +4 9 1–0 3–1
Houston Dynamo 4 2 1 1 4 2 +2 7 2–1 2–0
W Connection 4 0 1 3 1 7 −6 1 0–2 0–0
Source:

Group 2
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts KC OLI EST
Sporting Kansas City 4 2 2 0 5 1 +4 8 0–0 1–1
Olimpia 4 2 1 1 2 2 0 7 0–2 1–0
Real Estelí 4 0 1 3 1 5 −4 1 0–2 0–1
Source:

Group 3
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts CA HER VAL
Cruz Azul 4 4 0 0 10 2 +8 12 3–0 3–0
Herediano 4 2 0 2 11 8 +3 6 1–2 4–2
Valencia 4 0 0 4 4 15 −11 0 1–2 1–6
Source:

Group 4
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts ALA AME SM
Alajuelense 4 3 0 1 4 1 +3 9 1–0 2–0
América 4 2 0 2 4 2 +2 6 0–1 3–0
Sporting San Miguelito 4 1 0 3 1 6 −5 3 1–0 0–1
Source:

Group 5
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts SJ MTL HER
San Jose Earthquakes 4 2 0 2 4 2 +2 6[lower-alpha 1] 3–0 1–0
Montreal Impact 4 2 0 2 3 4 −1 6[lower-alpha 1] 1–0 2–0
Heredia 4 2 0 2 2 3 −1 6[lower-alpha 1] 1–0 1–0
Source:
Notes:
  1. All three teams are tied on points, and so are ranked by overall goal difference, then overall goals scored.

Group 6
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts TOL COM CAL
Toluca 4 4 0 0 15 4 +11 12 5–1 3–1
Comunicaciones 4 2 0 2 7 7 0 6 1–2 2–0
Caledonia AIA 4 0 0 4 2 13 −11 0 1–5 0–3
Source:

Group 7
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts TIJ FIR VIC
Tijuana 4 3 1 0 10 2 +8 10 1–0 6–0
Luis Ángel Firpo 4 2 1 1 6 3 +3 7 0–0 2–1
Victoria 4 0 0 4 4 15 −11 0 2–3 1–4
Source:

Group 8
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts LA CAR MET
LA Galaxy 4 3 0 1 6 4 +2 9 2–0 1–0
Cartaginés 4 1 1 2 4 7 −3 4[lower-alpha 1] 0–3 0–0
Isidro Metapán 4 1 1 2 6 5 +1 4[lower-alpha 1] 4–0 2–4
Source:
Notes:
  1. Cartaginés and Isidro Metapán are ranked on head-to-head record.

Championship stage
Main article: 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League championship stage

In the championship stage, the eight teams played a single-elimination tournament. Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule was used if the aggregate score was level after normal time of the second leg, but not after extra time, and so a tie was decided by penalty shoot-out if the aggregate score was level after extra time of the second leg.[2]

Seeding

The qualified teams were seeded 1–8 in the championship stage according to their results in the group stage.

Seed Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Toluca 4 4 0 0 15 4 +11 12
2 Cruz Azul 4 4 0 0 10 2 +8 12
3 Tijuana 4 3 1 0 10 2 +8 10
4 Árabe Unido 4 3 0 1 7 3 +4 9
5 Alajuelense 4 3 0 1 4 1 +3 9
6 LA Galaxy 4 3 0 1 6 4 +2 9
7 Sporting Kansas City 4 2 2 0 5 1 +4 8
8 San Jose Earthquakes 4 2 0 2 4 2 +2 6
Source:
Rules for classification: 1. Points; 2. Goal difference; 3. Goals scored; 4. Away goals scored; 5. Wins; 6. Away wins; 7. Drawing of lots.[2]

Bracket

The bracket of the championship stage was determined by the seeding as follows:[2]

  • Quarterfinals: Seed 1 vs. Seed 8 (QF1), Seed 2 vs. Seed 7 (QF2), Seed 3 vs. Seed 6 (QF3), Seed 4 vs. Seed 5 (QF4), with seeds 1–4 hosting the second leg
  • Semifinals: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF4 (SF1), Winner QF2 vs. Winner QF3 (SF2), with winners QF1 and QF2 hosting the second leg
  • Finals: Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2, with winner SF1 hosting the second leg
  Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
                                         
6 LA Galaxy 1 2 3  
3 Tijuana 0 4 4  
  3 Tijuana 1 0 1  
  2 Cruz Azul 0 2 2  
7 Sporting Kansas City 1 1 2
2 Cruz Azul 0 5 5  
  2 Cruz Azul (a) 0 1 1
  1 Toluca 0 1 1
5 Alajuelense 0 2 2  
4 Árabe Unido 0 0 0  
  5 Alajuelense 0 0 0
  1 Toluca 1 2 3  
8 San Jose Earthquakes 1 1 2 (4)
1 Toluca (p) 1 1 2 (5)  

Quarterfinals
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
San Jose Earthquakes 2–2 (4–5 p) Toluca 1–1 1–1 (a.e.t.)
Sporting Kansas City 2–5 Cruz Azul 1–0 1–5
LA Galaxy 3–4 Tijuana 1–0 2–4
Alajuelense 2–0 Árabe Unido 0–0 2–0

Semifinals
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Alajuelense 0–3 Toluca 0–1 0–2
Tijuana 1–2 Cruz Azul 1–0 0–2

Final
Main article: 2014 CONCACAF Champions League Final
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Cruz Azul 1–1 (a) Toluca 0–0 1–1
CONCACAF Champions League
2013–14 Champion
Cruz Azul
Sixth Title

Awards
Award Player Team
Golden Ball[9] Mariano Pavone Cruz Azul
Golden Boot[10] Raúl Nava Toluca
Golden Glove[11] Alfredo Talavera Toluca
Fair Play Award[12] — LA Galaxy

Top goalscorers
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Raúl Nava Toluca 7
2 Nicolás Muñoz Isidro Metapán 5
Mariano Pavone Cruz Azul
4 Édgar Benítez Toluca 4
Achille Emaná Cruz Azul
Robbie Keane Los Angeles Galaxy
7 Herculez Gomez Tijuana 3
Pablo Herrera Cartaginés
Jerry Palacios Alajuelense
Anllel Porras Herediano
Paolo Suárez Comunicaciones

Source:[13]

See also

References
  1. "Cruz Azul wins CCL title, qualifies for FCWC". CONCACAF.com. April 24, 2014. Archived from the original on April 25, 2014. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  2. "CONCACAF Champions League Regulations 2013/2014" (PDF). CONCACAF.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-08. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  3. "Concacaf confirma presencia de Cartaginés en la Liga de Campeones" (in Spanish). aldia.cr. 29 May 2013.
  4. "CCL: 24-team field nearly set for upcoming 2013-14 tournament, draw scheduled for June 3". mlssoccer.com. May 30, 2013.
  5. "2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League Draw Takes Place in Miami". CONCACAF.com. June 3, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-07-09. Retrieved 2013-07-02.
  6. "CONCACAF Champions League 2013/2014 Regulations". CONCACAF.com. June 4, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-07-10. Retrieved 2013-08-19.
  7. "CONCACAF Champions League Announces 2013-14 Schedule". CONCACAF.com. July 1, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-07-07. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  8. "2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinals Schedule Set". CONCACAF.com. January 6, 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2014-01-06.
  9. "Golden Ball". CONCACAF.com. April 23, 2014. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  10. "Golden Boot". CONCACAF.com. April 23, 2014. Archived from the original on April 25, 2014. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  11. "Golden Glove". CONCACAF.com. April 23, 2014. Archived from the original on April 25, 2014. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  12. "Fair Play Award". CONCACAF.com. April 23, 2014. Archived from the original on April 25, 2014. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  13. "CONCACAF Champions League — Statistics". CONCACAF.com.
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