1996 CONCACAF Champions' Cup

The 1996 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 32nd edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It determined that year's club champion of association football in the CONCACAF region and was played from March 9, 1996, through July 20, 1997.

1996 CONCACAF Champions' Cup

Tournament details
Host country	Guatemala
City	Guatemala City
Dates	July 15 – 20
Teams	4 (from 3 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Cruz Azul (4th title)
Runners-up	Necaxa
Tournament statistics
Matches played	6
Goals scored	29 (4.83 per match)
← 1995 1997 →

The teams were split into 2 zones (North/ Central and Caribbean). The North/Central zone was split into 3 groups, qualifying each winner to the final tournament. The winner of the Caribbean zone, earned a place in a playoff against the U.S. representative for a spot in the final tournament. All qualifying matches in the tournament were played under the home/away match system, while the final tournament was played in Guatemala City.

That final stage composed of four teams which played each other in a single round-robin tournament. Mexican team Cruz Azul won their fourth CONCACAF trophy, after finishing 1st. in the final table with 7 points over 3 matches played.^[1]

North/Central American Zone

Group 1

First Round
Cruz Azul on bye to the Third round.

Alajuelense v FAS

March 9, 1996 1st leg	Alajuelense	4–2	FAS	Alajuela, Costa Rica
	Rónald Gómez Mauricio Montero Luis Marín Murillo		Rodríguez Mayén	Attendance: 2,000

FAS v Alajuelense

March 31, 1996 2nd leg	FAS	1–2	Alajuelense	El Salvador
	Bolsonello 6'		56' González 89' Miso

• Alajuelense won 6–3 on aggregated.

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Árabe Unido v Real Estelí

March 15, 1996 1st leg	Árabe Unido	1–1	Real Estelí	Panama
	Clarke 58'		35' (pen.) Oliva

Real Estelí v Árabe Unido

March 17, 1996 2nd leg	Real Estelí	0–1	Árabe Unido	Panama
			74' Chiari

• Árabe Unido won 2–1 on aggregated.

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La Victoria v Victoria

March 17, 1996 1st leg

La Victoria

1–3

Victoria

Belize

Victoria v La Victoria

April 14, 1996 2nd leg

Victoria

4–2

La Victoria

Honduras

• Victoria won 7–3 on aggregated.

Second Round
Alajuelense on bye to the Fourth round.

Victoria v Árabe Unido

June 16, 1996 1st leg

Victoria

1–0

Árabe Unido

Honduras

Árabe Unido v Victoria

June 18, 1996 2nd leg	Árabe Unido	2–2	Victoria	Colon, Panama
	Abdul Chiari Carlos Brown		Renán Aguilera x2	Stadium: Roberto Mariano Bula Stadium

• Victoria won 3–2 on aggregated.

Third Round

Victoria v Cruz Azul

October 23, 1996 1st leg	Victoria	1–0	Cruz Azul	Honduras
	Aguilera 32'

Cruz Azul v Victoria

November 5, 1996 2nd leg	Cruz Azul	2–0	Victoria	Mexico
	de Oliveira 45' Zamora 87'

• Cruz Azul won 2–1 on aggregated.

Fourth Round

Alajuelense v Cruz Azul

January 4, 1997 1st leg	Alajuelense	0–2	Cruz Azul	Costa Rica
			5' Hermosillo 75' Reynoso

Cruz Azul v Alajuelense

January 8, 1997 2nd leg	Cruz Azul	3–2	Alajuelense	Mexico
	Hermosillo 42' 58' Verdirame 54'		66' 73' Ledesma

• Cruz Azul won 5–2 on aggregated.

Group 2

First Round

• Necaxa on bye to second round.

Saprissa v Olimpia

March 17, 1996	Saprissa	4–0	Olimpia	San José, Costa Rica
				Stadium: Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá

Olimpia v Saprissa

May 7, 1996	Olimpia	3–0 (3–4 agg.)	Saprissa	Tegucigalpa, Honduras
				Stadium: Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino

Second Round

Saprissa v Necaxa

September 15, 1996	Saprissa	2–2	Necaxa	San José, Costa Rica
	González 6' 79'		10' (pen.) Aguinaga 16' Zárate	Stadium: Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá

Necaxa v Saprissa

January 7, 1997	Necaxa	2–1 (4–3 agg.)	Saprissa	Querétaro City, Mexico
	Zárate 48' Peláez 84'		17' Drummond	Stadium: Estadio Corregidora

• Necaxa advanced to the CONCACAF Final Group stage.

Group 3

First Round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
CSD Comunicaciones	6–0	Cosmos	4–0	2–0
C.S.D. Sacachispas	5–3	Juventus Managua	3–1	2–2

• Juventus F.C. on bye, to the second round.

CSD Comunicaciones v Cosmos

CSD Comunicaciones

4–0

Cosmos

Cosmos v CSD Comunicaciones

Cosmos

0–2 (0-6 agg.)

CSD Comunicaciones

C.S.D. Sacachispas v Juventus Managua

March 21, 1996	C.S.D. Sacachispas	3–1	Juventus Managua
	Gustavo Benzano Lucio Catarino Da Silva Araeli López		Ivan Bravo

Juventus Managua v C.S.D. Sacachispas

Juventus Managua

2–2 (3–5 agg.)

C.S.D. Sacachispas

Second Round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
CSD Comunicaciones	5–1	C.S.D. Sacachispas	2–1	3–0

• Juventus F.C. on bye, to the third round.

CSD Comunicaciones v C.S.D. Sacachispas

CSD Comunicaciones

2–1

C.S.D. Sacachispas

C.S.D. Sacachispas v CSD Comunicaciones

C.S.D. Sacachispas

0–3 (1–5 agg.)

CSD Comunicaciones

Third Round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Juventus	1–8	CSD Comunicaciones	1–1	0–7

• CSD Comunicaciones advance to the Final Group stage.

Juventus v CSD Comunicaciones

Juventus

1–1

CSD Comunicaciones

CSD Comunicaciones v Juventus

CSD Comunicaciones

7–0 (8–1 agg.)

Juventus

Caribbean Zone

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
US Sinnamary	w/o*	SV Prakash	0–0
SV Transvaal	w/o**	Red Star (Pointe-à-Pitre)

• US Sinnamary withdrew after 1st leg*
• Red Star withdrew before 1st leg**

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
SV Transvaal	1–0	SV Prakash	0–0	1–0

• SV Transvaal advance to the USA/Caribbean playoff.

SV Transvaal v SV Prakash

SV Transvaal

0–0

SV Prakash

SV Prakash v SV Transvaal

SV Prakash

0–1 (0–1 agg.)

SV Transvaal

U.S./Caribbean Playoff

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Seattle Sounders	10–0	SV Transvaal

• Seattle Sounders advance to the Final Group stage.^[2]

Seattle Sounders v SV Transvaal

June 17, 1997	Seattle Sounders	10–0	SV Transvaal	Federal Way, Washington
19:30 PDT (UTC−7)	Adair 2', 15', 79' Gailey 32', 38' Megson 42' Gelvezon 49' Crothers 70' Barton 73', 82'	Report		Stadium: Federal Way Memorial Stadium Attendance: 2,153

Final group stage

Final stage was played in Guatemala City, Guatemala. July 15–20, 1997.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Cruz Azul	3	2	1	0	14	2	+12	7
2	Necaxa	3	1	2	0	8	5	+3	5
3	Comunicaciones	3	1	1	1	6	5	+1	4
4	Seattle Sounders	3	0	0	3	1	17	−16	0

Source: RSSSF^[1]

Matches

All the games played in Guatemala City:

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1996 CONCACAF Champions' Cup Final Stage

July 15, 1997

19:00 CST (UTC−6)

Round 1

Comunicaciones	2–0	Seattle Sounders
Suazo 44' Fernández 83'

Estadio Nacional Mateo Flores

Attendance: 25,000^[3]

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July 15, 1997

Round 1

Necaxa	1–1	Cruz Azul
Pavón 14'		Hermosillo 48'

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July 18, 1997

17:00 CST (UTC−6)

Round 2

Seattle Sounders	1–4	Necaxa
Hattrup 91' (pen.)		Almaguer 32' Blanco 47', 89' Vásquez 75'

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July 18, 1997

Round 2

Comunicaciones	1–2	Cruz Azul
Núñez 90'		Adomaitis 33' (37)

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July 20, 1997

Round 3

Comunicaciones	3–3	Necaxa
Julio Rodas 24', 48' Núñez 32'		Pineda 47' (pen.) Pavón 60' Montes de Oca 70'

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July 20, 1997

9:00 CST (UTC−6)

Round 3

Seattle Sounders	0–11	Cruz Azul
		Palencia 3' Hermosillo 13', 32', 49' Yegros 15', 53', 62' Adomaitis 34' Galindo 35' Barton 72' (o.g.) Ramírez 74' (pen.)

Champion

CONCACAF Champions' Cup 1996 Winners
Cruz Azul 4th title