The 2023 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2023 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th and final edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its former name, and overall the 58th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Seattle Sounders FC were the title holders, but they did not qualify for this tournament and were unable to defend their title.
León won their first title, defeating Los Angeles FC of MLS in the final 3–1 on aggregate. As winners, they earned the right to play in the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia and would have also qualified 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States alongside the winners from 2021 to 2024. However, due to León sharing the same ownership as C.F. Pachuca, another qualified team, and regulations against multi-club ownership, León was later disqualified from the latter; their spot in the Club World Cup was instead awarded to Los Angeles FC, the runners-up to León in the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League, who beaten Club América, the top-ranked team in the CONCACAF confederation ranking at the conclusion of the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup in the play-in match on 31 May 2025.
Teams The following 16 teams (from eight associations) qualified for the tournament. North American Zone: 9 teams (from three associations) Central American Zone: 6 teams (from four associations), all of them qualified through the 2022 CONCACAF League Caribbean Zone: 1 team (from one association), qualified through the 2022 Caribbean Club Championship
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 (not counting those in the era of the Champions' Cup from 1962 to 2008).
+Direct entrants (10 teams)AssociationTeamQualifying method Previous best AtlasApertura 2021 champions and Clausura 2022 champions1stDebutLeónApertura 2021 runners-up5th Quarter-finals PachucaClausura 2022 runners-up4th Champions Tigres UANLBest ranked team on aggregate table that have not already qualified7th Champions Los Angeles FC2022 MLS Cup champions and 2022 MLS Supporters' Shield champions2nd Runners-up Philadelphia Union2022 Eastern Conference regular season champions2nd Semi-finals Orlando City SC2022 U.S. Open Cup champions1stDebutAustin FCHighest-ranked U.S. based Division I club (based on 2022 MLS regular season record) not already qualified1stDebut Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2022 Canadian Championship champions 3rd Semi-finals Violette2022 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship champions1stDebut +Qualified teams from CONCACAF League (6 teams)AssociationTeamQualifying method Previous best Olimpia2022 CONCACAF League champions (1st overall)13th Semi-finals Real España2022 CONCACAF League semifinalist (3rd overall)4th Group stage Motagua2022 CONCACAF League semifinalist (4th overall)7th Round of 16 )Alajuelense2022 CONCACAF League runners-up (2nd overall)7th Semi-finals Alianza2022 CONCACAF League best-ranked losing quarter-finalist (5th overall)5th Round of 16 Tauro2022 CONCACAF League second-ranked losing quarter-finalist (6th overall)7th Quarter-finals
Draw
The draw took take place in Miami, Florida, United States on 7 November 2022. The seeding of teams was based on the CONCACAF Club Index. The CONCACAF Club Index, instead of ranking each team, was based on the on-field performance of the teams that 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:
PointsperParticipationWinDrawStage advancedChampions43112
The slots were assigned by the following rules: For teams from North America, nine teams qualified based on criteria set by their association (e.g., tournament champions, runners-up, cup champions), resulting in an assigned slot (e.g., MEX1, MEX2) for each team. If a team from Canada qualified through the CONCACAF League, they were ranked within their association, resulting in an assigned slot (i.e., CAN2) for them. For teams from Central America, they qualified through the CONCACAF League, and were ranked per association by their CONCACAF League ranking, resulting in an assigned slot (e.g., CRC1, CRC2) for each team. For teams from the Caribbean, the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship champions were assigned the Caribbean champion slot (i.e., CCC1). If teams from the Caribbean qualified through the CONCACAF League, they were ranked per association by their CONCACAF League ranking, resulting in an assigned slot (e.g., JAM1, SUR1) for each team.
The 16 teams were distributed in the pots as follows:
PotRankSlot20182019202020212022TotalTeamPot 11103 León293 Pachuca383 Atlas465 Austin FC562 Philadelphia Union656 Los Angeles FC756 Orlando City SC854 Vancouver Whitecaps FCPot 2932 Tigres UANL1027 Alajuelense1126 Olimpia120021 Real España1300020 Tauro140019 Alianza1516 Violette16000000 Motagua
Format Each tie, including the final, was played over two legs, with each team playing on a home-and-away basis. In the round of 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals, the away goals rule was applied if the aggregate score was tied after the second leg. If still tied, a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 12.7). In the final, extra time was played if the match was tied after regulation time. If the score was still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 12.8).
Schedule +RoundFirst legSecond legRound of 167–9 March14–16 MarchQuarter-finals4–5 April11–13 AprilSemi-finals25–26 April2–3 MayFinal31 May4 June
Bracket
Round of 16 In the round of 16, the matchups were decided by draw: R16-1 through R16-8. The teams from Pot 1 in the draw hosted the second leg.
Summary The first legs were played on 7–9 March, and the second legs were played on 14–16 March 2023.
Notes
Matches
Violette won 3–2 on aggregate.
León won 3–0 on aggregate.
1–1 on aggregate. Tigres UANL won on away goals.
1–1 on aggregate. Motagua won on away goals.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC won 7–3 on aggregate.
Los Angeles FC won 4–2 on aggregate.
Atlas won 5–4 on aggregate.
Philadelphia Union won 4–0 on aggregate.
Quarter-finals In the quarter-finals, the matchups were determined as follows: QF1: Winner R16-1 vs. Winner R16-2 QF2: Winner R16-3 vs. Winner R16-4 QF3: Winner R16-5 vs. Winner R16-6 QF4: Winner R16-7 vs. Winner R16-8 The winners of round of 16 matchups 1, 3, 5 and 7 hosted the second leg.
Summary The first legs were played on 4–5 April, and the second legs were played on 11–12 April 2023.
Matches
León won 6–2 on aggregate.
Tigres UANL won 6–0 on aggregate.
Los Angeles FC won 6–0 on aggregate.
Philadelphia Union won 3–2 on aggregate.
Semi-finals In the semi-finals, the matchups were determined as follows: SF1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2 SF2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4
The semi-finalists in each tie which had the better performance across all previous rounds hosted the second leg.
Summary The first legs were played on 25–26 April, and the second legs were played on 2–3 May 2023.
Matches
León won 4–3 on aggregate.
Los Angeles FC won 4–1 on aggregate.
Final
In the final (Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2), the finalist which had the better performances in previous rounds hosted the second leg.
Summary The first leg was played on 31 May, and the second leg was played on 4 June 2023.
León won 3–1 on aggregate.
Statistics
Top goalscorers
RankPlayerClubBy roundTotalgoals1 Denis Bouanga Los Angeles FC3 2 1172 Miche-Naider Chéry Violette2 243 Víctor Dávila León 2 1 3 Dániel Gazdag Philadelphia Union1 1 1 Ángel Mena León 1 1 1 Julián Quiñones Atlas2 1 Luis Quiñones Tigres UANL 1 1 1 Carlos Vela Los Angeles FC 1 2 9 Jorge Benguché Olimpia2 2 Julián Carranza Philadelphia Union 2 Sebastián Córdova Tigres UANL 1 1 Sebastián Driussi Austin FC2 André-Pierre Gignac Tigres UANL 2 Elias Hernández León 11 Getsal Montes Real España2 Andrés Perea Philadelphia Union2 Brian Rubio León 1 1 Brian White Vancouver Whitecaps FC 11
Team of the Season CONCACAF selected the following players as the team of the tournament. PlayerTeam John McCarthy Los Angeles FC Diego Palacios Aaron Long Adonis Frías León Iván Moreno Fidel Ambríz Luis Quiñones Tigres UANL Elías Hernández León Víctor Dávila Denis Bouanga Los Angeles FC Carlos Vela
Awards Award Player Team Ref. Best Player Award Víctor Dávila León Best Goalkeeper Award John McCarthy Los Angeles FC Young Player Award Fidel Ambríz León Top Scorer Award Denis Bouanga Los Angeles FC Fair Play Award Los Angeles FC
See also 2022 CONCACAF League
Notes
References
External links