Miami, Fla. – The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) confirmed today the programming for the official draw of the 2016/17 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League.
The draw will take place on Monday, May 30 at 8:00 PM ET at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. The event will be televised live on Univision Deportes Network in the United States and streamed live worldwide on the Official CONCACAF Facebook Page.
The 2015 MLS Cup Champions Portland Timbers will be one of the 24 qualified teams set to participate in the tournament. At the draw, each of the clubs will be sorted into eight groups of three teams for the Group Stage of the tournament. The Group Stage is set to take place from August to October, 2016. The championship round will begin early 2017.
The draw will be executed with a double-blind system involving the use of six pots. The first three pots, the “Team Pots,” will contain groupings of eight clubs each. The final three pots, the “Group Pots,” will be used to randomly sort the clubs, once drawn from the team pots, into the eight groups. The three “Group Pots” will contain the group allocation.
Of the twenty-four teams which will participate in the upcoming season of the Champions League, 22 have qualified as of this past weekend. The remaining two teams will qualify over the coming week, with playoff action in El Salvador and Guatemala.
Based on the results of the last four editions of the competition under the current format, the teams will be distributed as follows (in alphabetical order by country and then by chronological order qualified):
Pot 1: Police United FC (BLZ), Central F.C. (TRI), W Connection F.C. (TRI), Don Bosco FC (HAI), Real Estelí F.C. (NCA), C.D. Plaza Amador (PAN), Alianza F.C. (SLV), C.D. Dragón or C.D. Águila (SLV)
Pot 2: Vancouver Whitecaps FC (CAN), Club Sport Herediano (CRC), Deportivo Saprissa (CRC), Antigua FC (GUA), C.S.D. Comunicaciones or C.D. Suchitepéquez (GUA), C.D. Honduras Progreso (HON), Club Deportivo Olimpia (HON), Deportivo Árabe Unido (PAN)
Pot 3: Pumas UNAM (MEX), Tigres UANL (MEX), CF Monterrey (MEX), CF Pachuca (MEX), Sporting Kansas City (USA), New York Red Bulls (USA), FC Dallas (USA), Portland Timbers (USA)
The 2016/17 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League will qualify its champions directly to the FIFA Club World Cup 2017.
Club America is the defending champion and will represent the Confederation later this year, in the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2016.
