The 2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup group stage was played from 30 July to 29 August 2024. A total of 20 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 8 places in the knockout stage of the 2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup.
Draw
The draw for the group stage was held on 6 June 2024 in Miami, Florida, United States. The 20 involved teams were previously seeded into five pots of four teams each based on their CONCACAF Club Ranking as of 3 June 2024. +Pot 1 Team Saprissa 41 Olimpia 43 Alajuelense 50 Herediano 51+Pot 2 Team Municipal 52 Comunicaciones 54 Antigua 55 Motagua 56+Pot 3 Team Tauro 58 Marathón 59 Independiente 60 Guanacasteca 71+Pot 4 Team San Francisco 77 Alianza 80 Real Estelí 83 Águila 86+Pot 5 Team Diriangén 98 Firpo 113 Managua 146 Port Layola 175
For the group stage, the 20 teams were drawn into four groups (Groups A–D) of five containing a team from each of the five pots. Teams from pot 1 were drawn first and were placed in the first position of their group, starting from Group A to Group D. The same procedure was followed for teams from pots 2, 3, 4 and 5, and they were placed in positions 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively, within the group to which they were drawn. Each group must contain no more than two clubs from the same national association.
The draw resulted in the following groups:
+ Group ATeamA1 HeredianoA2 MotaguaA3 TauroA4 San FranciscoA5 Diriangén+ Group BTeamB1 AlajuelenseB2 ComunicacionesB3 MarathónB4 AlianzaB5 Firpo+ Group CTeamC1 OlimpiaC2 AntiguaC3 IndependienteC4 ÁguilaC5 Port Layola+ Group DTeamD1 SaprissaD2 MunicipalD3 GuanacastecaD4 Real EstelíD5 Managua
Format
In the group stage, each group was played on a single home-and-away round-robin basis, with teams playing against each other once, for a total of four matches per team (two home and two away). The teams were ranked according to the following criteria (Regulations Article 12.10.1): Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss); Goal difference; Goals scored; If two or more teams are still tied after applying the above criteria, their rankings would be determined as follows: Head-to-head points in the matches played among the tied teams; Head-to-head goal difference in the matches played among the tied teams; Head-to-head goals scored in the matches played among the tied teams; The lowest number of fairplay points, based on the following criteria: Yellow card: plus 1 point; Second yellow card/indirect red card: plus 3 points; Direct red card: plus 4 points;; Yellow card and direct red card: plus 5 points; Drawing of lots by CONCACAF. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the quarter-finals of the knockout stage.
Schedule Matches in the competition were played on either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday as decided by CONCACAF. The schedule of each week was as follows (Regulations Article 2).
WeeksDatesMatchesWeek 130 July – 1 August 2024Team 1 vs. Team 3, Team 5 vs. Team 2Week 26–8 August 2024Team 5 vs. Team 1, Team 2 vs. Team 4Week 313–15 August 2024Team 4 vs. Team 5, Team 2 vs. Team 3Week 420–22 August 2024Team 4 vs. Team 1, Team 3 vs. Team 5Week 527–29 August 2024Team 1 vs. Team 2, Team 3 vs. Team 4
Groups All match times are in EDT (UTC−4) and local times are in parentheses, as listed by CONCACAF.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
References
External links