2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League

2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League

Tournament details
Dates	July 26, 2011 – April 25, 2012
Teams	24 (from 12 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Monterrey (2nd title)
Runners-up	Santos Laguna
Tournament statistics
Matches played	78
Goals scored	242 (3.1 per match)
Attendance	674,305 (8,645 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Humberto Suazo Oribe Peralta (7 goals)
Best player	Oribe Peralta

The 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League is the 4th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current format, and overall the 47th 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 26, 2011 and finished with the second leg of the final April 25, 2012.^[1]

Defending champions Monterrey won the title, and qualified as the CONCACAF representative at the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup.

Qualification

Twenty-four teams participate in the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League from the North American, Central American, and Caribbean zones. Nine of the teams come from North America, twelve from Central America, and three from the Caribbean.^[2]

Teams may be disqualified and replaced by a team from a different country if the club doesn't have an available stadium that meets CONCACAF regulations for safety. If a club's own stadium fails to meet the set standards then it may find a suitable replacement stadium within its own country. However, if it is still determined that the club cannot provide the adequate facilities then it runs the risk of being replaced.

North America

A total of nine clubs from the North American Football Union participate in the Champions League. Mexico and the United States are allocated four spots, the most of any CONCACAF nation, while Canada is granted one spot in the tournament.

In Mexico, the winners of the Mexican Primera División Apertura and Clausura tournaments earn direct berths into Group Stage of the Champions League, while the tournament runners-up earn berths into the Preliminary Round.

For the United States, three of its four spots are allocated through the Major League Soccer regular season and playoffs, while the fourth spot is allocated to whoever wins the domestic cup competition, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The U.S. Open Cup winner, along with the MLS Cup runner-up earn berths into the Preliminary Round of the tournament. The winner of the Supporters' Shield and MLS Cup are given byes into Group Stage.

The winner of Canada's domestic cup competition, the Canadian Championship, earns the lone Canadian berth into the tournament, entering in the Preliminary Round.

Central America

Twelve clubs from the Central American Football Union 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 previous Champions League tournaments.

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. In nations that don't utilize such methods, total points over both seasons, followed by other tiebreakers, determine which team gains the nation's top spot. The top teams from the leagues of Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and Panama enter the Group Stage, while their second teams enter the Preliminary Round. The two teams from the league of El Salvador and the sole representatives from the leagues of Nicaragua and Belize enter the Preliminary Round.

Caribbean

Three berths in the Champions League's Preliminary Round are allocated to the top three finishers of the CFU Club Championship, a subcontinental tournament for clubs from nations of the Caribbean Football Union. In order for a Caribbean club to qualify for the CFU Club Championship, they would need to finish as the champion (or in some cases, runner-up) in their respective nation's top league in the previous season.

If any Caribbean club is precluded, it is supplanted by the fourth-place finisher from the CFU Club Championship.

Teams

Teams in bold qualified directly for the Group Stage.

Association	Club	Qualifying method	App	Last App
North America (9 teams)
Mexico 4 berths	Monterrey	2010 Apertura champion	2nd	2010–11
	UNAM	2011 Clausura champion	3rd	2009–10
	Santos Laguna	2010 Apertura runner-up	3rd	2010–11
	Morelia	2011 Clausura runner-up	1st	None
United States 4 berths	Colorado Rapids	2010 MLS Cup champion	1st	None
	Los Angeles Galaxy	2010 MLS Supporters' Shield champion	2nd	2010–11
	FC Dallas	2010 MLS Cup runner-up	1st	None
	Seattle Sounders FC	2010 U.S. Open Cup champion	2nd	2010–11
Canada 1 berth	Toronto FC	2011 Canadian Championship champion	3rd	2010–11
Central America (12 teams)
Honduras 3 berths	Real España	2010 Apertura champion	2nd	2009–10
	Motagua	2011 Clausura champion	2nd	2010–11
	Olimpia	2010 Apertura runner-up and 2011 Clausura runner-up1	4th	2010–11
Costa Rica 2 berths	Alajuelense	2010 Invierno champion and 2011 Verano champion	2nd	2008–09
	Herediano	2010 Invierno runner-up (runner-up with better aggregate record)	2nd	2009–10
Guatemala 2 berths	Comunicaciones	2010 Apertura champion and 2011 Clausura champion	2nd	2009–10
	Municipal	2010 Apertura runner-up and 2011 Clausura runner-up	3rd	2010–11
Panama 2 berths	Tauro	2010 Apertura champion	3rd	2010–11
	San Francisco	2011 Clausura champion	4th	2010–11
El Salvador 2 berths	Isidro Metapán	2010 Apertura champion	4th	2010–11
	Alianza	2011 Clausura champion	1st	None
Nicaragua 1 berth	Real Estelí	Champion with better aggregate record in 2010–11 season	2nd	2008–09
Caribbean (3 teams)
Puerto Rico	Puerto Rico Islanders	2011 CFU Club Championship champion	4th	2010–11
Haiti	Tempête	2011 CFU Club Championship runner-up	1st	None
Guyana	Alpha United	2011 CFU Club Championship third place	1st	None

• Number of appearances and last appearance count only those in the Champions League era starting from 2008–09 (not counting those in the era of the Champions' Cup from 1962 to 2008).

¹ Berth originally awarded to Belize (Belize Defence Force) but Belize failed CONCACAF stadium requirements, so the spot vacated was awarded to Honduras (Olimpia) based on performance from last season.^[3]

Format

Like the previous editions, the tournament is divided into three phases:^[4]

• In the Preliminary Round, 16 teams are drawn into eight two-legged home-and-away ties, with each tie containing one team from Pot A and one team from Pot B. The eight winners qualify for the Group Stage to join the eight teams which directly enter the Group Stage.
• In the Group Stage, 16 teams are drawn into four groups of four playing in a round-robin home-and-away format, with each group containing two direct entries (one team from Pot A and one team from Pot B) and two Preliminary Round winners. The top two teams from each group advance to the Quarterfinals of the Championship Round.
• In the Championship Round, the eight teams play in a knockout tournament, with each tie played in two-legged home-and-away format.

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 has to be drawn with the runner-up of another group and also host the second leg.

For the two-legged ties of the Preliminary Round and Championship Round, the away goals rule is used, but not after a tie enters extra time, and so a tie is decided by penalty shootout if the aggregate score is level after extra time.

Group Stage
Pot A	Monterrey	UNAM	Colorado Rapids	Los Angeles Galaxy
Pot B	Alajuelense	Real España	Comunicaciones	Tauro
Preliminary Round
Pot A	Santos Laguna	Morelia	FC Dallas	Seattle Sounders FC
	Herediano	Motagua	Isidro Metapán	Toronto FC
Pot B	Municipal	San Francisco	Alianza	Real Estelí
	Olimpia	Puerto Rico Islanders	Tempête	Alpha United

Schedule

Preliminary Round

The draw for the Preliminary Round and the Group Stage was held on May 18, 2011.^[7] The first legs of the Preliminary Round were played July 26–28, 2011, while the second legs were played August 2–4, 2011.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Motagua	4–2	Municipal	4–0	0–2
Morelia	7–0	Tempête	5–0	2–0
Isidro Metapán	3–3 (a)	Puerto Rico Islanders	2–0	1–3
Santos Laguna	4–3	Olimpia	3–1	1–2
Alianza	0–2	FC Dallas	0–1	0–1
Toronto FC	4–2	Real Estelí	2–1	2–1
San Francisco	1–2	Seattle Sounders FC	1–0	0–2 (a.e.t.)
Herediano	10–2	Alpha United	8–0	2–2

Group Stage

The Group Stage were played in 6 matchdays during August–October 2011: August 16–18, August 23–25, September 13–15, September 20–22, September 27–29, and October 18–20.^[7] The top two teams of each group advanced to the Championship Round.^[4]

Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Los Angeles Galaxy 6 4 0 2 8 4 +4 12 Morelia 6 4 0 2 11 5 +6 12 Alajuelense 6 4 0 2 8 6 +2 12 Motagua 6 0 0 6 2 14 −12 0

ALA LA MOR MOT Alajuelense – 1–0 1–0 1–0 Los Angeles Galaxy 2–0 – 2–1 2–0 Morelia 2–1 2–1 – 4–0 Motagua 2–4 0–1 0–2 –

Tiebreakers^[4]

• Los Angeles Galaxy, Morelia and Alajuelense are ranked by their head-to-head records. All three teams have 6 head-to-head points, and so are ranked by head-to-head goal difference: Los Angeles Galaxy (+1), Morelia (0), Alajuelense (−1).

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Santos Laguna 6 4 1 1 16 6 +10 13 Isidro Metapán 6 3 0 3 10 15 −5 9 Colorado Rapids 6 2 1 3 9 12 −3 7 Real España 6 1 2 3 9 11 −2 5

COL MET REA SAN Colorado Rapids – 3–2 1–2 1–4 Isidro Metapán 1–3 – 3–2 2–0 Real España 1–1 1–2 – 1–1 Santos Laguna 2–0 6–0 3–2 –

Group C

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts UNAM 6 3 2 1 8 2 +6 11 Toronto FC 6 3 1 2 7 7 0 10 FC Dallas 6 2 1 3 6 11 −5 7 Tauro 6 1 2 3 7 8 −1 5

DAL TAU TOR UNAM FC Dallas – 1–1 0–3 0–2 Tauro 5–3 – 1–2 0–0 Toronto FC 0–1 1–0 – 1–1 UNAM 0–1 1–0 4–0 –

Group D

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Monterrey 6 4 0 2 11 4 +7 12 Seattle Sounders FC 6 3 1 2 10 7 +3 10 Comunicaciones 6 2 1 3 8 13 −5 7 Herediano 6 2 0 4 6 11 −5 6

COM HER MON SEA Comunicaciones – 2–0 1–0 2–2 Herediano 4–1 – 0–5 1–2 Monterrey 3–1 1–0 – 0–1 Seattle Sounders FC 4–1 0–1 1–2 –

Championship Round

Bracket

The draw for the Championship Round was held on November 8, 2011.^[8] 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 they played in the Group Stage (and thus they may face a team from the same association).^[4]

	Quarterfinals						Semifinals						Finals
	Morelia	1	1	2
	Monterrey	3	4	7
							Monterrey	3	1	4
							UNAM	0	1	1
	Isidro Metapán	2	0	2
	UNAM	1	8	9
													Monterrey	2	1	3
													Santos Laguna	0	2	2
	Toronto FC	2	2	4
	Los Angeles Galaxy	2	1	3
							Toronto FC	1	2	3
							Santos Laguna	1	6	7
	Seattle Sounders FC	2	1	3
	Santos Laguna	1	6	7

Quarterfinals

The first legs of the Quarterfinals were played March 6–8, 2012, and the second legs were played March 13–15, 2012.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Seattle Sounders FC	3–7	Santos Laguna	2–1	1–6
Isidro Metapán	2–9	UNAM	2–1	0–8
Toronto FC	4–3	Los Angeles Galaxy	2–2	2–1
Morelia	2–7	Monterrey	1–3	1–4

Semifinals

The first legs of the Semifinals were played March 28, 2012, and the second legs were played April 4, 2012.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Toronto FC	3–7	Santos Laguna	1–1	2–6
Monterrey	4–1	UNAM	3–0	1–1

Finals

The first leg of the Finals was played April 18, 2012, and the second leg was played April 25, 2012.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Monterrey	3–2	Santos Laguna	2–0	1–2

CONCACAF Champions League 2011–12 Champion
Monterrey Second Title

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Humberto Suazo	Monterrey	7
	Oribe Peralta	Santos Laguna	7
3	Jorge Barbosa	Herediano	6
	Herculez Gomez	Santos Laguna	6
	Joao Plata	Toronto FC	6
6	Darío Carreño	Monterrey	5
	Ryan Johnson	Toronto FC	5
	Cristian Suárez	Santos Laguna	5
9	Martín Bravo	UNAM	4
	Aldo de Nigris	Monterrey	4
	Eduardo Herrera	UNAM	4
	Carlos Quintero	Santos Laguna	4
	Paolo Suárez	Isidro Metapán	4

Source:^[9]

Awards

For the first time, CONCACAF awarded a Golden Boot trophy to the top scorer and a Golden Ball trophy to the player of the tournament. Humberto Suazo won the Golden Boot over Oribe Peralta by the tie-breaker of scoring more goals over the two-leg final.^[10] Oribe Peralta won the Golden Ball, determined by a combination of fan and media votes.^[11]

References

External links

• CONCACAF Champions League official website