2019 CONCACAF Champions League

The 2019 CONCACAF Champions League was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 54th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Monterrey defeated UANL 2–1 on aggregate in the final to win their fourth title. As the winners of the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League, they qualified for the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar. Guadalajara were the title holders, but did not qualify for this tournament and were unable to defend their title.

Qualification

A total of 16 teams participated in the CONCACAF Champions League:

North American Zone: 9 teams
Central American Zone: 5 teams
Caribbean Zone: 1 team
Winners of the CONCACAF League

Therefore, teams from either 9 or 10 out of the 41 CONCACAF member associations could participate in the CONCACAF Champions League.

North America

The nine berths for the North American Football Union were allocated to the three NAFU member associations as follows: four berths each for Mexico and the United States, and one berth for Canada.
For Mexico, the champions and runners-up of the Liga MX Apertura and Clausura Liguilla tournaments qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. If there was any team which were finalists of both tournaments, the vacated berth was reallocated using a formula, based on regular season records, that ensured that two teams qualified via each tournament.
For the United States, because of the restructuring of the CONCACAF Champions League starting from 2018, two teams each from the 2017 and 2018 seasons qualified for the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League:

The champions of the MLS Cup, the championship match of the MLS Cup Playoffs, in 2017 and 2018
The champions of the U.S. Open Cup, its domestic cup competition, in 2017 and 2018

This meant that the Supporters' Shield champions in 2017 and 2018, and the Eastern Conference or Western Conference regular season champions which were not Supporters' Shield champions in 2017 and 2018, which would have qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League in the usual setup, were not guaranteed a berth in the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League. If there was any team which qualified through multiple berths, or if there was any Canada-based MLS team which were champions of the 2017 or 2018 MLS Cup, the vacated berth was reallocated to the U.S.-based team with the best aggregate record over the 2017 and 2018 MLS regular seasons.
For Canada, the champions of the Canadian Championship, its domestic cup competition which awards the Voyageurs Cup, qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. While some Canada-based teams competed in MLS, they could not qualify through either the MLS regular season or playoffs.

Central America

The five berths for the Central American Football Union were allocated to five of the seven UNCAF member associations as follows: one berth for each of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama. As all of the leagues of Central America employed a split season with two tournaments in one season, the champions with the better aggregate record in the leagues of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. Another 13 teams from Central America, which qualified through their domestic leagues, entered the CONCACAF League.
If teams from any Central American associations were excluded, they were replaced by teams from other Central American associations, with the associations chosen based on results from previous CONCACAF Champions League tournaments.

Caribbean

The sole berth for the Caribbean Football Union, which consisted of 31 member associations, was allocated via the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship, the first-tier subcontinental Caribbean club tournament. Since 2018, the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship was open to teams from professional leagues. To qualify for the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship, teams had to finish as the champions or runners-up of their respective association's league in the previous season.
The champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. Another three teams from the Caribbean, which qualified through the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship or CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield, entered the CONCACAF League.

CONCACAF League

Besides the 15 direct entrants of the CONCACAF Champions League, another 16 teams entered the CONCACAF League, a tournament held from August to October prior to the CONCACAF Champions League. The champions of the CONCACAF League qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League.

Teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the tournament.
In the following table, the number of appearances, last appearance, and previous best result count only those in the CONCACAF Champions League era starting from 2008–09.

Association	Team	Qualifying method		Previous best
	UANL	2017 Apertura champions	5th	Runners-up
	Santos Laguna	2018 Clausura champions	6th	Runners-up
	Monterrey	2017 Apertura runners-up	5th	Champions
	Toluca	2018 Clausura runners-up	4th	Runners-up
	Atlanta United FC	2018 MLS Cup champions	1st	Debut
	Sporting Kansas City	2017 U.S. Open Cup champions	4th	Quarter-finals
	Houston Dynamo	2018 U.S. Open Cup champions	5th	Quarter-finals
	New York Red Bulls	U.S. non-champions with best aggregate record in 2017 and 2018 MLS regular seasons	5th	Semi-finals
	Toronto FC	2018 Canadian Championship champions	6th	Runners-up

Association	Team	Qualifying method		Previous best
	Atlético Pantoja	2018 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship champions	1st	Debut

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Draw

The draw for the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League was held on 3 December 2018, 19:00 EST, at the Univision Studios in Miami, Florida, United States.
The draw determined each tie in the round of 16 between a team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2, each containing eight teams. The "Bracket Position Pots" contained the bracket positions numbered 1 through 8 corresponding to each tie. The teams from Pot 1 were assigned a bracket position from Pot A and the teams from Pot 2 were assigned a bracket position from Pot B. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other in the round of 16 except for "wildcard" teams which replaced a team from another association.
The seeding of teams were based on the CONCACAF Club Index. Each team qualified for the CONCACAF League based on criteria set by the respective associations, resulting in an assigned slot for each team. The CONCACAF Club Index, instead of ranking each team, was based on the on-field performance of the teams that have occupied the respective qualifying slots in the previous five editions of the CONCACAF Champions League. To determine the total points awarded to a slot in any single edition of the CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF used the following formula:

Points per	Participation	Win	Draw	Stage advanced	Champions
Points per	4	3	1	1	2

The 16 teams were distributed in the pots as follows:

Pot	Rank	Slot	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2018	Total	Team
Pot 1	1							116	Monterrey
Pot 1	2							105	UANL
Pot 1	3							101	Santos Laguna
Pot 1	4							84	Toronto FC
Pot 1	5							77	Houston Dynamo
Pot 1	6							75	Toluca
Pot 1	7							65	New York Red Bulls
Pot 1	8							64	Atlanta United FC
Pot 2	9							57	Independiente
Pot 2	10							56	Sporting Kansas City
Pot 2	11							54	Saprissa
Pot 2	12							52	Marathón
Pot 2	13						0	38	Guastatoya
Pot 2	14							35	Alianza
Pot 2	15							26	Atlético Pantoja
Pot 2	16		0	0	0	0		5	Herediano

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