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Moderator
| Joined: 25 Nov 2007 |
| Posts: 4479 |
| Location: Washington DC |
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 Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 7:47 pm |
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| Quote: |
The new UEFA-styled competition will begin this summer.
Club teams in CONCACAF will be able to participate in a competition much like those in UEFA, as the official launch of the CONCACAF Champions League took place in New York on Monday. It will begin play in August 2008 and take the place of the Champions' Cup, which will be played for the final time this winter.
The new league will feature four teams from Mexico and the United States; three Caribbean sides; two clubs each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama; and one team from Canada, Belize, and Nicaragua. Eight clubs (two Mexican, two USA, one each from Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador) will be seeded and earn a bye directly into the group stage of the competition, while the others will play in preliminary matches in August and September.
The preliminary round winners will join seeded teams in the group stage, where the top two teams in each of the four groups will advance to the knock out phase, which will consists of home-and-away legs. The quarterfinals will take place in February of 2009; the semifinals are in March; and the Finals are in April.
The winner of this new competition will serve as the region’s representative in the FIFA Club World Cup.
Schedule
2008
End July: All qualification completed, draw for preliminary round
26-28 August: Preliminary Round, First-legs
2-4 September: Preliminary Round, Second-legs
Early September: Group Stage Schedule Announced
16-18 September: Group Stage - Match Day 1
23-25 September: Group Stage - Match Day 2
30 September - 2 October: Group Stage - Match Day 3
7-9 October: Group Stage - Match Day 4
21-23 October: Group Stage - Match Day 5
28-30 October: Group Stage - Match Day 6
2009
24-26 February: Quarterfinals, First-legs
3-5 March: Quarterfinals, Second-legs
17-19 March: Semifinals, First-legs
7-9 April: Semifinals, Second-legs
21-23 April: Final, First-leg
28-30 April: Final, Second-leg
December: FIFA Club World Cup |
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