The 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League was the 3rd edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current format, and overall the 46th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament began on July 27, 2010 and ended on April 27, 2011. Monterrey of Mexico won their first title, defeating Real Salt Lake of the United States 3-2 on aggregate in the final. As winners, Monterrey qualified for the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup as the CONCACAF representative.
Qualification
Twenty-four teams participated in the 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League from the North American, Central American, and Caribbean zones. Nine of the teams came from North America, twelve from Central America, and three from the Caribbean.
Teams may be disqualified and replaced if they do not have a stadium for the tournament that CONCACAF deems suitable. If a club fails to meet the standards for its home stadium, this club must find a suitable stadium in its own country. If said club fails to provide the adequate facilities, it runs the risk of being replaced.
Central America: 12 Central American clubs can qualify to the Champions League. If one or more clubs is precluded, it is supplanted by a club from another Central American federation. The reallocation would be based on results from the 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League. Caribbean: If any Caribbean club is precluded, it is supplanted by the "2010 CFU Club Championship" 4th-place finisher.
For the Central American representatives that qualify via split seasons, in nations that play a playoff to determine a national champion, the winner gains the nation's top spot, and in nations that do not, total points over both seasons, followed by other tiebreakers, determine which team gains the nation's top spot.
After having analyzed previous results, the CONCACAF Executive Committee approved a reallocation of berths compared to the previous two seasons, giving Panama one automatic place in the group stage while making both of El Salvador's qualifiers go through the preliminary round.
Teams Teams in bold qualify directly for the group stage.
AssociationClubQualifying methodNorth America (9 teams) MexicoMonterrey2009 Apertura championToluca2010 Bicentenario championCruz Azul2009 Apertura runner-upSantos Laguna2010 Bicentenario runner-up United StatesReal Salt Lake2009 MLS Cup championColumbus Crew2009 MLS Supporters' Shield winnerLos Angeles Galaxy2009 MLS Cup runner-upSeattle Sounders FC2009 U.S. Open Cup champion CanadaToronto FC2010 Canadian Championship championCentral America (12 teams) HondurasMarathón2009 Apertura championOlimpia2010 Clausura championMotagua2010 Clausura runner-up1 PanamaÁrabe Unido2009 Apertura champion and 2010 Clausura championTauro2009 Apertura runner-upSan Francisco2010 Clausura runner-up1 Costa RicaBrujas2009 Invierno championSaprissa2010 Verano champion GuatemalaMunicipal2009 Apertura champion and 2010 Clausura championXelajú2010 Clausura runner-up with better aggregate record El SalvadorFAS2009 Apertura championIsidro Metapán2010 Clausura championCaribbean (3 teams) Puerto RicoPuerto Rico Islanders2010 CFU Club Championship champion Trinidad and TobagoJoe Public2010 CFU Club Championship runner-upSan Juan Jabloteh2010 CFU Club Championship third place
1 Berths originally awarded to Belize (Belize Defence Force) and Nicaragua (Real Estelí), but both countries failed CONCACAF stadium requirements, so the spots vacated were awarded to Honduras (Motagua) and Panama (San Francisco) based on the performances of clubs from those countries last season.
Format Like the previous editions, the tournament featured a two-legged Preliminary Round for 16 clubs. The eight winners of the aggregate series qualified along with the eight seeded teams that earned a direct spot to enter the group stage. The clubs involved in Group Stage were placed into four groups of four with each team playing the others in its group in both home and away matches in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinals of the Championship Round, which consisted of two-legged, home and away, knockout fixtures. For the two-legged ties, the away goals rule would be used, but not after a tie enters extra time, and so a tie would be decided by penalty shootout if the aggregate score is level after extra time.
Teams from the same association (excluding "wildcard" teams which replace a team from another association) may not be drawn with each other in the preliminary round and Group Stage, but may be drawn with each other in the Championship Round, where the only restriction is that in the quarterfinals, a group winner was drawn with the runner-up of another group and hosted the second leg.
Group StagePot A Monterrey Toluca Columbus Crew Real Salt LakePot B Saprissa Olimpia Municipal Árabe UnidoPreliminary roundPot A Cruz Azul Santos Laguna Los Angeles Galaxy Seattle Sounders FC Brujas Marathón FAS Toronto FCPot B Xelajú Tauro Isidro Metapán Motagua San Francisco Puerto Rico Islanders Joe Public San Juan Jabloteh
Schedule
RoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legPreliminary roundPreliminaryMay 19, 2010 (New York, United States)July 27–29, 2010August 3–5, 2010Group StageMatchday 1August 17–19, 2010Matchday 2August 24–26, 2010Matchday 3September 14–16, 2010Matchday 4September 21–23, 2010Matchday 5September 28–30, 2010Matchday 6October 19–21, 2010Championship RoundQuarterfinalsNovember 1, 2010 (New York, United States)February 22–24, 2011March 1–3, 2011SemifinalsMarch 15–16, 2011April 5–6, 2011FinalApril 20, 2011April 27, 2011
Preliminary round
The draw for the preliminary round and the group stage was held on May 19, 2010, at the CONCACAF headquarters in New York City. The first legs of the preliminary round were played July 27–29, 2010, while the second legs were played August 3–5, 2010.
Group stage
The Group Stage was played in 6 rounds during August–October 2010. The rounds are August 17–19, August 24–26, September 14–16, September 21–23, September 28–30, and October 19–21. Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Championship round
Bracket The draw for the Championship Round was made on November 1, 2010. In the quarterfinals, the group winners were assured of playing the second leg at home, and were drawn against the group runners-up, with the only restriction being that they could not face the same team that it played in the group stage (and thus they may face a team from the same association).
Quarterfinals The first legs of the quarterfinals were played February 22–24, 2011, and the second legs were played March 1–3, 2011.
Semifinals The first legs of the semifinals were played March 15–16, 2011, and the second legs were played April 5–6, 2011.
Final
The first leg of the Final was played April 20, 2011, and the second leg was played April 27, 2011.
CONCACAF Champions League2010–11 championMonterreyFirst title
Top goalscorers PosNameClubGoals1 Javier Orozco Cruz Azul112 Álvaro Saborío Real Salt Lake8 Emanuel Villa Cruz Azul4 Héctor Mancilla Toluca65 José María Cárdenas Santos Laguna5 Juan Cuevas Toluca Roger Rojas Olimpia8 Christian Giménez Cruz Azul4 Nicholas Addlery Puerto Rico Islanders Claudio Cardozo Marathón Aldo de Nigris Monterrey David Foley Puerto Rico Islanders Guillermo Ramírez Municipal Humberto Suazo Monterrey
References
External links CONCACAF Champions League official website