Draw delivers groups for 2024 Concacaf Central American Cup

Miami, FL – Concacaf has conducted the official draw for the 2024 Concacaf Central American Cup. The second edition of the regional cup competition, which serves as a qualifier for the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup and crowns Central America’s club champion, includes 20 clubs and will be played between July and December 2024.

Sports anchor Carmen Boquin hosted the live event in Miami, FL, which also included Concacaf General Secretary Philippe Moggio and former players Rolando Fonseca (Costa Rica) and Boniek Garcia (Honduras).

During Thursday’s draw, the 20 Central American clubs participating in the competition, all of which have qualified via their domestic league play (more details available here), were split into four groups of five clubs each and will play as follows:

Group A

CS Herediano
FC Motagua
Tauro FC
San Francisco FC
Diriangen FC

Group B

LD Alajuelense
Comunicaciones FC
CD Marathon
Alianza FC
CD Luis Angel Firpo

Group C

CD Olimpia
Antigua GFC
CA Independiente
CD Aguila
Port Layola FC

Group D

Deportivo Saprissa
CSD Municipal
AD Guanacasteca
Real Esteli FC
Managua FC

COMPETITION FORMAT AND DATES

The 2024 Concacaf Central American Cup will kick off with a Group Stage.  In this first round, clubs will play every club in their group once, for a total of four matches per club (two at home and two away), in the five scheduled weeks. 

Group Stage Week 1: July 30 – August 1, 2024
Group Stage Week 2: August 6-8, 2024
Group Stage Week 3: August 13-15, 2024
Group Stage Week 4: August 20-22, 2024
Group Stage Week 5: August 27-29, 2024

After the Group Stage, each group's first and second-place finishers will advance to the Knockout Stage. The Knockout Stage will include home-and-away matches, starting with the Quarterfinals, followed by the Semifinals and Play-In, and the Final, where the new champion of Central America will be crowned. 

Quarterfinals: September 24-26 and October 1-3, 2024
Semifinals and Play-In: October 29-31and November 5-7, 2024
Final: November 26-28 and December 3-5, 2024

The matchups for each of the knockout stage rounds will be determined as follows:

Quarterfinals: Based on Group Stage performance, the group winners and runners-up will be ranked 1-4 and 5-8, respectively. The highest-ranked group winner will play the lowest-ranked runner-up (1vs8, 2vs7, 3vs6, and 4vs5), and the four highest-ranked clubs will host the second-leg matches.

Semifinals and Play-In: Matchups will be determined based on the competition’s bracket. The highest-ranked club in each matchup, according to the competition's table, will host the second-leg matches. 

Concacaf will publish the competition’s Group Stage match schedule in the coming days. 

2025 CONCACAF CHAMPIONS CUP

The 60th edition of the Confederation’s annual premier men’s club competition, the Concacaf Champions Cup, is scheduled to be played in the spring of next year and will showcase the region’s best 27 clubs, all battling for the same goals: to be crowned Concacaf club champion and a berth in the FIFA Club World Cup. 

Six clubs from Central America will participate in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup. These six clubs will qualify via this year’s Central American Cup (four semifinalists and two play-in winners). Furthermore, the champion of the Central American Cup will receive a bye to the Champions Cup Round of 16.