The 2020 CONCACAF League (officially the 2020 Scotiabank CONCACAF League for sponsorship purposes) was the fourth edition of the CONCACAF League, a football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.[1]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CONCACAF announced on 23 June 2020 that the start of the tournament, which was scheduled to begin on 28 July 2020 and end in November, had been postponed.[2] On 7 August 2020, they announced the tournament would begin on 20 October and end on 28 January 2021.[3] To ease the schedule, CONCACAF originally announced that the preliminary round and round of 16 would be played as single-leg matches, but on 29 October 2020, CONCACAF announced that this format had been extended to all rounds, with ties hosted by the higher-seeded teams based on the CONCACAF Club Ranking.[4] The final was also rescheduled to 3 February 2021.
Alajuelense defeated title holders Saprissa in the final to win their first CONCACAF League title. As winners, they and the next best five teams qualified for the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League.[5][6] After the format change of all rounds to single-leg matches, it was decided a play-in round would be added for the four losing quarter-finalists to compete for the last two places in the CONCACAF Champions League.[4]
Qualification
A total of 22 teams participated in the CONCACAF League:
The 18 berths for the Central American Football Union (UNCAF), which consisted of seven member associations, were allocated as follows: three berths for each of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, two berths for Nicaragua, and one berth for Belize.
All of the leagues of Central America employed a split season with two tournaments in one season, so the following teams qualified for the CONCACAF League:
In the league of Costa Rica, both champions, and the non-champions with the best aggregate record, qualified. If there was any team which were champions of both tournaments, the non-champions with the second best aggregate record qualified.
In the leagues of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama, both champions, and the runners-up with the better aggregate record (or any team which were runners-up of both tournaments), qualified. If there was any team which were finalists of both tournaments, the runners-up with the worse aggregate record qualify. If there were any two teams which were finalists of both tournaments, the semi-finalists with the best aggregate record would qualify.
In the league of Nicaragua, both champions qualified. If there was any team which were champions of both tournaments, the runners-up with the better aggregate record (or any team which were runners-up of both tournaments) qualified.
In the league of Belize, the champions with the better aggregate record (or any team which were champions of both tournaments) qualified.
If teams from any Central American associations were excluded, they were to be replaced by teams from other Central American associations, with the associations chosen based on results from previous CONCACAF League and CONCACAF Champions League tournaments.[8]
Caribbean
The three berths for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), which consisted of 31 member associations, were allocated via the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship and CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield, the first-tier and second-tier subcontinental Caribbean club tournaments. Since 2018, the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship had been 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, while the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield was open to teams from non-professional leagues, where they could qualify as champions of their respective association's league in the previous season.[9]
Besides the champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship which qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League, 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, qualified for the CONCACAF League. For the champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield to be eligible for the playoff, they had to comply with the minimum CONCACAF Club Licensing requirements for the CONCACAF League.[10]
Teams
The following 22 teams (from eleven associations) qualified for the tournament.[11]
Ten teams entered in the round of 16: two each from Costa Rica, Honduras, and Panama, and one each from El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and the Caribbean.
Twelve teams entered in the preliminary round: two each from El Salvador, Guatemala, and the Caribbean, and one each from Canada, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, and Belize.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the deadline for registration was extended to 28 June 2020.[12]
Qualified teams from North America (1 team: entering in preliminary round)
Panama (PAN): The 2020 Apertura tournament of the 2019–20 Liga Panameña de Fútbol season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Panama, and the title was not awarded. The three teams that qualified to represent the Panamanian Football Federation in the 2020 CONCACAF League were Tauro (entering in the round of 16), the 2019 Apertura tournament champions, and San Francisco and Independiente (entering the round of 16 and preliminary round, respectively), the non-champions with the best and second-best 2019–20 aggregate record at the time of suspension.[20][21]
Location of teams of the 2020 CONCACAF League Central American Zone Caribbean Zone Teams in bold enter in the round of 16
The draw for the 2020 CONCACAF League was held on 21 September 2020, 19:00 EDT (UTC−4), at the CONCACAF headquarters in Miami, United States.[3][22][23]
The draw determined each tie in the preliminary round (numbered 1 through 6) between a team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2, each containing six teams. A team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2 were drawn into each tie. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other in the preliminary round except for "wildcard" teams which could replace a team from another association.
The draw also determined each tie in the round of 16 (numbered 1 through 8) between a team from Pot 3 and a team from Pot 4, each containing eight teams, with the six preliminary round winners, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, in Pot 4. A team from Pot 3 and a team from Pot 4 were drawn into each tie.
The seeding of teams was based on the CONCACAF Club Index. 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 League and CONCACAF Champions League. To determine the total points awarded to a slot in any single edition of the CONCACAF League or CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF used the following formula:
Points per
Participation
Win
Draw
Stage advanced
Champions
CONCACAF Champions League (2015–16 – 2019)
4
3
1
1
2
CONCACAF League (2017 – 2019)
2
3
1
0.5
1
Teams qualified for the CONCACAF League based on criteria set by their association (e.g., tournament champions, runners-up, cup champions), resulting in an assigned slot (e.g., CRC1, CRC2) for each team.
The 22 teams were distributed in the pots as follows:[24]
In all rounds except the final, if the score was tied after the end of regulation, a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner.[6]
In the final, extra time was played if the score was tied after regulation. If the score was still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner.[6]
Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows.[22]
Round
Dates
Preliminary round
20–22 October 2020
Round of 16
3–5 November 2020
Quarter-finals
1–2 December 2020 (previously 1–3 and 8–10 December 2020 as two-leg matches)
In the preliminary round, the matchups were decided by draw: PR-1 through PR-6. The team from Pot 1 in the draw hosted the single-leg match.
Summary
Four of the six matches were played from 20–22 October 2020.[26] Due to CONCACAF's COVID-19 testing protocol, one match was cancelled, and another match was rescheduled to 4 November.[27]
In the round of 16, the matchups were decided by draw: R16-1 through R16-8. The team from Pot 3 in the draw hosted the single-leg match, except for the match between Alajuelense and San Francisco, where the higher-seeded team based on the CONCACAF Club Ranking hosted the match.
Summary
Six of the eight matches were played from 3–5 November 2020.[26][27] Due to CONCACAF's COVID-19 testing protocol, one match was rescheduled to 24 November. Another match was also rescheduled to 24 November due to the postponement of a preliminary round match.[32]
The winners of the quarter-finals qualified for the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League. The losers entered the play-in round. The matches were played on 1–2 December 2020.[32]
The top six teams qualified for the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League, i.e., champions, runners-up, both losing semi-finalists, and the two winners of the play-in round contested by the four losing quarter-finalists.[4]
^ abThe preliminary round match between Arcahaie and Verdes, originally scheduled to be played on 20 October 2020, 20:00 UTC−4, at the Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez, Santo Domingo, was postponed due to four players and four staff members from Verdes testing positive for COVID-19.[28] Verdes later withdrew from the competition, awarding Arcahaie a 3–0 walkover win into the Round of 16.[27]
^The preliminary round match between Alajuelense and Cibao was originally scheduled to be played on 21 October 2020, 20:00 UTC−6, but was rescheduled to 22 October 2020, 16:00 UTC−6, due to eleven COVID-19 cases in the Alajuelense team.[29] It was postponed for a second time to allow for additional COVID-19 testing due to unspecified inconsistencies which indicated that CONCACAF protocols may not have been followed.[30] It was rescheduled to 4 November 2020, 17:00 UTC−6.[27]
^The round of 16 match between Alajuelense and San Francisco was originally drawn as a home match of San Francisco as they were from Pot 3 in the draw, but was later played as a home match of Alajuelense after the format change, as they were the higher-seeded team based on the CONCACAF Club Ranking.[26][32]
^The round of 16 match between Saprissa and Municipal was originally scheduled to be played on 4 November 2020, 19:15 UTC−6, but was rescheduled to 5 November 2020, 21:30 UTC−6, to allow for additional testing after three new COVID-19 cases were detected in the Municipal team during pre-match testing.[33]
^Oshane Nation of Jamaica was originally scheduled to officiate the round of 16 match between Olimpia and Managua, but the officiating crew was unable to travel to Honduras in time for the match due to adverse weather conditions caused by Hurricane Eta. As a result, a back-up officiating crew of local FIFA referees was appointed.[34]
^The round of 16 match between San Francisco and the winner of the preliminary round match between Alajuelense and Cibao was originally scheduled to be played on 3 November 2020, 20:15 UTC−5, but was postponed due to the postponement of the preliminary round match between Alajuelense and Cibao.[27] It was rescheduled to be played on 24 November 2020, 21:15 UTC−6.[32]
^The round of 16 match between Herediano and Real Estelí was originally scheduled to be played on 5 November 2020, 19:15 UTC−6, but was postponed after members of both teams tested positive for COVID-19 and discrepancies in testing were discovered.[33] It was rescheduled to 24 November 2020, 19:00 UTC−6.[32]
^The semi-final match between Saprissa and Arcahaie was originally scheduled to be played on 20 January 2021, 19:00 UTC−6, but was rescheduled to 22 January 2021, 16:00 UTC−6, to ensure Arcahaie had enough time to complete all necessary immigration processes required prior to traveling from Haiti to Costa Rica.[38]
Alajuelense (1st title)
Alexander López
