MIAMI, Florida – New ground will be broken in the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup with the expanded format that includes 27 teams in the tournament.
That extends down to some of the match-ups to be played in Round One beginning next month. Case in point is the two-legged series between FC Cincinnati of Major League Soccer (MLS) and Jamaican side Cavalier.
🇺🇸 @fccincinnati and Cavalier 🇯🇲 go head-to-head in Round One of the Champions Cup! pic.twitter.com/h66CCjg1sk
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) December 21, 2023
By virtue of winning the MLS Supporters Shield for the 2023 season in which they had the league’s best record during the regular season, FC Cincinnati qualified for their first Champions Cup.
The 2024 Champions Cup also represents uncharted territory for Cavalier as well. Thanks to their runner-up finish in the 2023 Concacaf Caribbean Cup, Cavalier qualified for their first ever Champions Cup.
This means that for the first time since the 2020 edition when New York City FC faced San Carlos of Costa Rica in the Round of 16, two teams making their Champions Cup debut will meet in the first round of action.
In another statistical oddity, this series will be the first time that a Jamaican club will face a team from MLS that is not DC United. In all four previous instances of a team from MLS playing against a Jamaican opponent in the Champions Cup, DC United was the MLS opponent.
In the 2005 quarterfinals, DC United eliminated Harbour View 4-2 on aggregate with a pair of 2-1 victories.
Three years later in 2008, those same two sides met again in the quarterfinal round. Harbour View earned a 1-1 draw at home, but succumbed 5-0 away from home to give DC United a 6-1 aggregate victory.
In the 2014-15 Champions Cup, Waterhouse was the Jamaican opponent for DC United in the group stage, with DC United narrowly winning 1-0 at home and then 2-1 in Jamaica to help capture the top spot in their group.
The following season in the 2015-16 group stage, DC United faced their third different Jamaican opponent in the group stage, this time against Montego Bay United. DC United collected a 3-0 win at home and then rallied from a 3-0 second half deficit to claim a 3-3 draw in Jamaica.
Thanks to DC United’s prowess, MLS teams own a 6W-2D-0L edge in their overall record against Jamaican opposition in the Champions Cup, a mark that will be put to the test by Cavalier against FC Cincinnati in next month’s Round One.
