CONCACAF Champions League 2008/09

The CONCACAF Champions League in the 2008/2009 season was the first edition of this competition.

The tournament began with qualification in late August 2008 and ended with the second leg of the final in late April 2009. The winner CF Atlante qualified for the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup .

Field of participants

24 teams took part in the CONCACAF Champions League 2008/09. The teams came from North America, the Caribbean and Central America.

Four teams each qualified from the United States and Mexico. The Caribbean zone provided three teams. Two teams each took part from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama. Canada, Belize and Nicaragua each provided one team.

Mexico ( Primera División ) CF Atlante UNAM Pumas Santos Laguna CD Cruz Azul  USA ( Major League Soccer - 2007 ) Houston Dynamo DC United New England Revolution CD Chivas USA  Costa Rica ( Primera División ) Deportivo Saprissa LD Alajuelense  El Salvador ( Primera Divisíon ) CD Luis Ángel Firpo AD Isidro Metapán  Guatemala ( Liga Nacional ) Deportivo Jalapa CSD Municipal

Honduras ( Liga Nacional ) CD Marathon CD Olimpia  Panama ( ANAPROF ) San Francisco FC Tauro FC  Belize ( Belize Premier Football League ) Hankook Verdes  Nicaragua ( Primera División ) Real Estelí  Canada ( Canadian Championship - 2008 ) Montreal Impact Caribbean ( CFU Club Championship - 2007 )  Harbor View FC  Joe Public FC  Puerto Rico Islanders FC

Tournament course

Qualifying round: (16 teams)

• 2 teams each from the USA and Mexico
• 2 teams each from Panama
• One team each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua and Canada
• 3 clubs from the Caribbean zone

Group stage: (16 teams)

• the 8 winners of the Preliminary Round
• 2 teams each from the USA and Mexico
• One team each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras

Group stage
Pot A		Pot B
CF Atlante	Houston Dynamo	Deportivo Saprissa	CSD Municipal
Santos Laguna	DC United	CD Luis Ángel Firpo	CD Olimpia
qualification
Pot C		Pot D
UNAM Pumas	LD Alajuelense	Deportivo Jalapa	Real Estelí
CD Cruz Azul	CD Marathon	AD Isidro Metapán	Harbor View FC
New England Revolution	San Francisco FC	Tauro FC	Joe Public FC
CD Chivas USA	Montreal Impact	Hankook Verdes	Puerto Rico Islanders FC

Time schedule

date	Event
End of July 2008	Eligibility to play for the Preliminary Round
26.-28. August 2008	Preliminary Round, first leg
2-4 September 2008	Preliminary Round, second legs
Early September 2008	Group stage is announced
16.-18. September 2008	Group Stage - 1st matchday
23-25 September 2008	Group Stage - 2nd matchday
September 30th - October 2nd, 2008	Group Stage - 3rd matchday
7th-9th October 2008	Group Stage - 4th matchday
21-23 October 2008	Group Stage - 5th matchday
28-30 October 2008	Group Stage - 6th matchday
24.-26. February 2009	Quarter-finals, first leg
3rd to 5th March 2009	Quarterfinals, second legs
17th-19th March 2009	Semi-finals, first legs
7th-9th April 2009	Semi-finals, second legs
21-23 April 2009	Final, first leg
28-30 April 2009	Final, second leg

Preliminary Round (Qualifying Round)

The pairings of the qualifying round were drawn on June 11, 2008 in New York . The first leg took place between August 26 and August 28, 2008. The second legs were played from September 2nd to September 4th.

After the qualifying round, the winners from the individual matches were assigned to the teams already seeded. There were four groups with four teams each.

	total		First leg	Return leg
Deportivo Jalapa	1: 5	San Francisco FC	1-0	0: 5
Joe Public FC	6: 1	New England Revolution	2: 1	4-0
LD Alajuelense	2: 3	Puerto Rico Islanders FC	1: 1	1: 2
CD Cruz Azul	12: 00	Hankook Verdes	6-0	6-0
Harbor View FC	0: 3	UNAM Pumas	failed	0: 3
Tauro FC	3: 1	CD Chivas USA	2-0	1: 1
Montreal Impact	1-0	Real Estelí	1-0	0-0
AD Isidro Metapán	3: 4	CD Marathon	2: 2	1: 2

Group Stage (main round)

Group A

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	CD Marathon	6th	4th	1	1	012: 500	+7	13
2.	CD Cruz Azul	6th	3	1	2	008: 400	+4	10
3.	Deportivo Saprissa	6th	3	1	2	007: 900	−2	10
4th	DC United	6th	0	1	5	004:130	−9	01

Group B

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	UNAM Pumas	6th	3	3	0	018: 700	+11	12
2.	Houston Dynamo	6th	2	3	1	009: 900	± 0	09
3.	CD Luis Ángel Firpo	6th	2	2	2	006: 800	−2	08th
4th	San Francisco FC	6th	0	2	4th	004:130	−9	02

Group C

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	CF Atlante	6th	3	2	1	006: 300	+3	11
2.	Montreal Impact	6th	3	2	1	010: 500	+5	11
3.	CD Olimpia	6th	2	2	2	010: 600	+4	08th
4th	Joe Public FC	6th	1	0	5	003:150	−12	03

Group D

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Santos Laguna	6th	3	1	2	014:110	+3	10
2.	Puerto Rico Islanders FC	6th	2	2	2	009:100	−1	08th
3.	Tauro FC	6th	2	2	2	009:100	−1	08th
4th	CSD Municipal	6th	1	3	2	012:130	−1	06th

Knockout round

The entire setting plan for the KO round was drawn on December 10, 2008.

	Quarter finals						Semifinals						final
	Puerto Rico Islanders FC	2	1	3
	CD Marathon	1	0	1
							Puerto Rico Islanders FC	2	1	3 (2)
							CD Cruz Azul	0	3	3 (4)
	CD Cruz Azul	1	1	2
	UNAM Pumas	0	0	0
													CD Cruz Azul	0	0	0
													CF Atlante	2	0	2
	Montreal Impact	2	2	4th
	Santos Laguna	0	5	5
							Santos Laguna	2	1	3
							CF Atlante	1	3	4th
	Houston Dynamo	1	0	1
	CF Atlante	1	3	4th

Quarter finals

In the quarter-finals, the group winners played against the runners-up, with the group winners having home rights in the second leg. Teams from the same group could not meet.

The first legs took place from February 24 to 26, the second legs from March 3 to 5, 2009.

	total		First leg	Return leg
Houston Dynamo	1: 4	CF Atlante	1: 1	0: 3
Montreal Impact	4: 5	Santos Laguna	2-0	2: 5
Puerto Rico Islanders FC	3: 1	CD Marathon	2: 1	1-0
CD Cruz Azul	2-0	UNAM Pumas	1-0	1-0

Semifinals

The first legs took place on March 17 and 18, the second legs on April 7 and 8, 2009.

	total		First leg	Return leg
Puerto Rico Islanders FC	3: 3 (2: 4 in good condition)	CD Cruz Azul	2-0	1: 3 a.d.
Santos Laguna	3: 4	CF Atlante	2: 1	1: 3

final

First leg

CD Cruz Azul		CF Atlante
	April 22, 2009 in Mexico City ( Estadio Azul ) Result: 0: 2 (0: 2) Spectators: 22,718 Referee: Marco Antonio Rodríguez ( Mexico )
	Alfonso Blanco - Ronald Raldes , Joaquín Beltrán ( c ), Carlos Bonet , Fausto Pinto - Gabino Velasco , Edgar Andrade (19th Héctor Gutiérrez ), César Villaluz - Alejandro Vela (53rd Javier Orozco ), Luis Ángel Landín , Pablo Zeballos (46 . Édgar Lugo ) Coach: Benjamin Galindo	Federico Vilar ( c ) - Gerardo Espinoza , Miguel Ángel Martínez , Luis David Velázquez , Arturo Muñoz - Fernando Navarro , José Daniel Guerrero , Gabriel Pereyra , Christian Bermúdez - Rafael Márquez Lugo (86th Ismael Valadéz ), Luis Gabriel Rey (71st Andrés Carevic ) Coach: José Guadalupe Cruz
		0: 1 Fernando Navarro (16) 0: 2 Christian Bermúdez (24)
	Carlos Bonet (9th), Pablo Zeballos (12th), Gabino Velasco (61.)	Miguel Ángel Martínez (18th)

Return leg

CF Atlante		CD Cruz Azul
	May 12, 2009 in Cancún ( Estadio Olímpico Andrés Quintana Roo ) Result : 0-0 Spectators: 13,000 Referee: Benito Archundia ( Mexico )
	Federico Vilar ( c ) - Gerardo Espinoza , Luis Gerardo Venegas , Luis David Velázquez , Clemente Ovallo - Fernando Navarro (68th Gerardo Castillo ), José Daniel Guerrero , Gabriel Pereyra , Christian Bermúdez - Luis Gabriel Rey (74th Arturo Muñoz ), Rafael Márquez Lugo (68th Giancarlo Maldonado ) Coach: José Guadalupe Cruz	Alfonso Blanco - Alejandro Castro , Joaquín Beltrán , Julio Domínguez , Carlos Bonet (73rd Fernando González ) - Jaime Lozano , Gerardo Torrado , Cristian Riveros (56th César Villaluz ) - Alejandro Vela , Javier Orozco , Pablo Zeballos (62nd Édni Martinez Enrique ) Trainer: Robert Siboldi
	Luis Gerardo Venegas (31st), José Daniel Guerrero (32nd), Gabriel Pereyra (38th), Clemente Ovalle (40th)	Pablo Zeballos (28th), Christian Riveros (32nd), Gerardo Torraldo (57th)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ CONCACAF Champions League ™ match between Harbor View - Pumas UNAM canceled ( Memento of the original from September 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)  

Web links

• CONCACAF Champions League 2008/09 - Official Site