2023 CONCACAF Champions League

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.^[3]

2023 CONCACAF Champions League

2023 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League
BMO Stadium in Los Angeles hosted the second leg of the final
Tournament details
Dates	7 March – 4 June
Teams	16 (from 8 associations)
Final positions
Champions	León (1st title)
Runners-up	Los Angeles FC
Tournament statistics
Matches played	30
Goals scored	82 (2.73 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Denis Bouanga (Los Angeles FC) 7 goals
Best player(s)	Víctor Dávila (León)[1]
Best young player	Fidel Ambríz (León)[2]
← 2022 2024 (Champions Cup) →

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.^[4] 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;^[5] 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.^[6][7]

Teams

The following 16 teams (from eight associations) qualified for the tournament.^[8]

• 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)

Association	Team	Qualifying method	App. (last)	Previous best (last)
Mexico (4 berths)	Atlas	Apertura 2021 champions and Clausura 2022 champions	1st	Debut
	León	Apertura 2021 runners-up	5th (2022)	Quarter-finals (2022)
	Pachuca	Clausura 2022 runners-up	4th (2016–17)	Champions (2016–17)
	UANL	Best ranked team on aggregate table that have not already qualified	7th (2020)	Champions (2020)
United States (4 berths)	Los Angeles FC	2022 MLS Cup champions and 2022 MLS Supporters' Shield champions	2nd (2020)	Runners-up (2020)
	Philadelphia Union	2022 Eastern Conference regular season champions	2nd (2021)	Semi-finals (2021)
	Orlando City SC	2022 U.S. Open Cup champions	1st	Debut
	Austin FC	Highest-ranked U.S. based Division I club (based on 2022 MLS regular season record) not already qualified	1st	Debut
Canada (1 berth)	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	2022 Canadian Championship champions	3rd (2016–17)	Semi-finals (2016–17)
Haiti (CFU berth)	Violette	2022 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship champions	1st	Debut

Qualified teams from CONCACAF League (6 teams)

Association	Team	Qualifying method	App. (last)	Previous best (last)
Honduras	Olimpia	2022 CONCACAF League champions (1st overall)	13th (2021)	Semi-finals (2020)
	Real España	2022 CONCACAF League semifinalist (3rd overall)	4th (2014–15)	Group stage (2011–12)
	Motagua	2022 CONCACAF League semifinalist (4th overall)	7th (2022)	Round of 16 (2020)
Costa Rica	Alajuelense	2022 CONCACAF League runners-up (2nd overall)	7th (2021)	Semi-finals (2014–15)
El Salvador	Alianza	2022 CONCACAF League best-ranked losing quarter-finalist (5th overall)	5th (2020)	Round of 16 (2019)
Panama	Tauro	2022 CONCACAF League second-ranked losing quarter-finalist (6th overall)	7th (2018)	Quarter-finals (2018)

Draw

Atlas

León

Pachuca

Tigres

Vancouver Whitecaps

Austin

LAFC

Orlando City

Philadelphia Union

Alajuelense

Olimpia

Real España

Motagua

Alianza

Tauro

Violette

Location of teams of the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League
North American Zone Central American Zone Caribbean Zone

The draw took take place in Miami, Florida, United States on 7 November 2022.^[9] The seeding of teams was based on the CONCACAF Club Index.^[10] 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:

Points per	Participation	Win	Draw	Stage advanced	Champions
	4	3	1	1	2

The slots were assigned by the following rules:^[11]

• 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:^[12]

Pot	Rank	Slot	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	Total	Team
Pot 1	1	MEX2	25	21	24	16	17	103	León
	2	MEX3	17	26	11	20	19	93	Pachuca
	3	MEX1	12	20	11	28	12	83	Atlas
	4	USA4	5	11	12	12	25	65	Austin FC
	5	USA2	7	15	16	16	8	62	Philadelphia Union
	6	USA1	11	11	6	12	16	56	Los Angeles FC
	7	USA3	17	11	11	10	7	56	Orlando City SC
	8	CAN1	21	5	10	9	9	54	Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Pot 2	9	MEX4	9	4	7	5	7	32	UANL
	10	CRC1	5	7	6	4	5	27	Alajuelense
	11	HON1	5	4	5	7	5	26	Olimpia
	12	HON2	5	0	11	5	0	21	Real España
	13	PAN1	8	12	0	0	0	20	Tauro
	14	SLV1	7	5	7	0	0	19	Alianza
	15	CCC1	4	4	4	4	0	16	Violette
	16	HON3	0	0	0	0	0	0	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).^[13]
• 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).^[13]

Schedule

Schedule for 2023 CONCACAF Champions League^[14]

Round	First leg	Second leg
Round of 16	7–9 March	14–16 March
Quarter-finals	4–5 April	11–13 April
Semi-finals	25–26 April	2–3 May
Final	31 May	4 June

Bracket

	Round of 16							Quarter-finals							Semi-finals							Final
	Motagua (a)		0	1	1
	Pachuca		0	1	1
								Motagua		0	0	0
								UANL		1	5	6
	UANL (a)		0	1	1
	Orlando City SC		0	1	1
															UANL		2	1	3
															León		1	3	4
	Tauro		0	0	0
	León		1	2	3
								León		5	1	6
								Violette		0	2	2
	Violette		3	0	3
	Austin FC		0	2	2
																						León		2	1	3
																						Los Angeles FC		1	0	1
	Alianza		0	0	0
	Philadelphia Union		0	4	4
								Philadelphia Union		1	2	3
								Atlas		0	2	2
	Olimpia		4	0	4
	Atlas		1	4	5
															Philadelphia Union		1	0	1
															Los Angeles FC		1	3	4
	Vancouver Whitecaps FC		5	2	7
	Real España		0	3	3
								Vancouver Whitecaps FC		0	0	0
								Los Angeles FC		3	3	6
	Alajuelense		0	2	2
	Los Angeles FC		3	1	4

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.^[15]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Violette	3–2	Austin FC	3–0	0–2
Tauro	0–3	León	0–1	0–2
UANL	1–1 (a)	Orlando City SC	0–0	1–1
Motagua	1–1 (a)	Pachuca	0–0	1–1
Vancouver Whitecaps FC	7–3[A]	Real España	5–0	2–3
Alajuelense	2–4	Los Angeles FC	0–3	2–1
Olimpia	4–5	Atlas	4–1	0–4
Alianza	0–4	Philadelphia Union	0–0	0–4

Notes

1. Order of legs were reversed after original draw

Matches

7 March 2023 (2023-03-07)

18:00 (19:00 UTC−04:00)

Violette	3–0	Austin FC
Chéry 13', 39' Tarek 47' (o.g.)	Report

Estadio Cibao FC, Santiago (Dominican Republic)^{[note 1]}

Referee: Selvin Brown (Honduras)

14 March 2023 (2023-03-14)

20:00 (19:00 CDT)

Austin FC	2–0	Violette
Driussi 51', 63'	Report

Q2 Stadium, Austin

Attendance: 20,738^[16]

Referee: Oshane Nation (Jamaica)

Violette won 3–2 on aggregate.

---

8 March 2023 (2023-03-08)

18:00

Tauro	0–1	León
	Report	Moreno 55'

Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City

Referee: Armando Villarreal (United States)

16 March 2023 (2023-03-16)

20:00 (18:00 CST)

León	2–0	Tauro
Rubio 26' E. Hernández 45+2'	Report

Estadio León, León

Referee: Walter López (Guatemala)

León won 3–0 on aggregate.

---

7 March 2023 (2023-03-07)

22:00 (21:00 UTC−06:00)

UANL	0–0	Orlando City SC
	Report

Estadio Universitario, San Nicolás de los Garza

Referee: Mario Escobar (Guatemala)

15 March 2023 (2023-03-15)

20:15

Orlando City SC	1–1	UANL
Kara 89'	Report	Córdova 21'

Exploria Stadium, Orlando

Attendance: 21,112

Referee: Saíd Martínez (Honduras)

1–1 on aggregate. UANL won on away goals.

---

9 March 2023 (2023-03-09)

20:00 (19:00 UTC−06:00)

Motagua	0–0	Pachuca
	Report

Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula

Referee: Drew Fischer (Canada)

16 March 2023 (2023-03-16)

22:15 (20:15 CST)

Pachuca	1–1	Motagua
I. Hernández 73'	Report	Hernández 89' (pen.)

Estadio Hidalgo, Pachuca

Referee: Iván Barton (El Salvador)

1–1 on aggregate. Motagua won on away goals.

---

8 March 2023 (2023-03-08)

22:00 (19:00 UTC−08:00)

Vancouver Whitecaps FC	5–0	Real España
Blackmon 21' Raposo 59' D. García 64' (o.g.) Vite 70' White 78'	Report

BC Place, Vancouver

Attendance: 13,644^[17]

Referee: Fernando Hernández (Mexico)

15 March 2023 (2023-03-15)

18:00 (16:00 UTC−06:00)

Real España	3–2	Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Montes 67', 86' Rocca 75'	Report	White 66' Becher 83'

Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula

Referee: Marco Ortiz (Mexico)

Vancouver Whitecaps FC won 7–3 on aggregate.

---

9 March 2023 (2023-03-09)

22:00 (21:00 UTC−06:00)

Alajuelense	0–3	Los Angeles FC
	Report	Bouanga 47', 69', 89'

Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela

Referee: Daneon Parchment (Jamaica)

15 March 2023 (2023-03-15)

22:30 (19:30 PDT)

Los Angeles FC	1–2	Alajuelense
Vela 83'	Report	González 8' (pen.) Suárez 52'

BMO Stadium, Los Angeles

Attendance: 19,672^[18]

Referee: Adonai Escobedo (Mexico)

Los Angeles FC won 4–2 on aggregate.

---

8 March 2023 (2023-03-08)

20:00 (19:00 UTC−06:00)

Olimpia	4–1	Atlas
López 10' Benguché 55', 73' Bengtson 61' (pen.)	Report	Furch 15' (pen.)

Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula

Referee: Ismail Elfath (United States)

14 March 2023 (2023-03-14)

22:15 (20:15 CST)

Atlas	4–0	Olimpia
Quiñones 38', 90+2' Herrera 63' Rocha 78'	Report

Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara

Attendance: 13,697^[19]

Referee: Juan Gabriel Calderón (Costa Rica)

Atlas won 5–4 on aggregate.

---

7 March 2023 (2023-03-07)

20:00 (19:00 UTC−06:00)

Alianza	0–0	Philadelphia Union
	Report

Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador

Referee: César Ramos (Mexico)

14 March 2023 (2023-03-14)

20:00

Philadelphia Union	4–0	Alianza
Lowe 45+1' Gazdag 62' (pen.) Perea 81', 84'	Report

Subaru Park, Chester

Attendance: 8,145^[20]

Referee: Bryan López (Guatemala)

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.^[21]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Violette	2–6	León	0–5	2–1
Motagua	0–6	UANL	0–1	0–5
Vancouver Whitecaps FC	0–6	Los Angeles FC	0–3	0–3
Atlas	2–3	Philadelphia Union	0–1	2–2

Matches

4 April 2023 (2023-04-04)

22:00 (20:00 CDT)

León	5–0	Violette
Mena 8' Dávila 66', 84' Di Yorio 90+1' E. Hernández 90+4'	Report

Estadio León, León

Referee: Ismael Cornejo (El Salvador)

11 April 2023 (2023-04-11)

20:00

Violette	2–1	León
Chéry 15', 26'	Report	Rubio 30' (pen.)

Estadio Cibao FC, Santiago (Dominican Republic)^{[note 1]}

Referee: Keylor Herrera (Costa Rica)

León won 6–2 on aggregate.

---

5 April 2023 (2023-04-05)

20:00 (18:00 UTC−06:00)

Motagua	0–1	UANL
	Report	Quiñones 44'

Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula

Referee: Armando Villarreal (United States)

13 April 2023 (2023-04-13)

22:00 (20:00 CDT)

UANL	5–0	Motagua
Gignac 27', 66' Quiñones 83' Angulo 88' Ibáñez 90'	Report

Estadio Universitario, San Nicolás de los Garza

Referee: Walter López (Guatemala)

UANL won 6–0 on aggregate.

---

5 April 2023 (2023-04-05)

22:00 (19:00 PDT)

Vancouver Whitecaps FC	0–3	Los Angeles FC
	Report	Bouanga 56', 65' Opoku 61'

BC Place, Vancouver

Attendance: 11,652

Referee: Fernando Guerrero (Mexico)

11 April 2023 (2023-04-11)

22:15 (19:15 PDT)

Los Angeles FC	3–0	Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Vela 8' (pen.), 31' Cifuentes 65'	Report

BMO Stadium, Los Angeles

Attendance: 18,688

Referee: Juan Calderón (Costa Rica)

Los Angeles FC won 6–0 on aggregate.

---

4 April 2023 (2023-04-04)

20:00

Philadelphia Union	1–0	Atlas
Gazdag 89' (pen.)	Report

Subaru Park, Chester

Referee: Saíd Martínez (Honduras)

12 April 2023 (2023-04-12)

22:00 (20:00 CDT)

Atlas	2–2	Philadelphia Union
Quiñones 11' Furch 45+1'	Report	Carranza 27', 78'

Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara

Referee: Iván Barton (El Salvador)

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.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Host
1 (SF1)	León	4	3	0	1	9	2	+7	9	Second leg
2 (SF1)	UANL	4	2	2	0	7	1	+6	8	First leg
1 (SF2)	Los Angeles FC	4	3	0	1	10	2	+8	9	Second leg
2 (SF2)	Philadelphia Union	4	2	2	0	7	2	+5	8	First leg

Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Away goals scored; 5) Wins; 6) Away wins; 7) Disciplinary points (1 point for yellow card, 3 points for indirect red card, 4 points for direct red card, 5 points for yellow card and direct red card); 8) Drawing of lots (Regulations Article 12.9.5).

Summary

The first legs were played on 25–26 April, and the second legs were played on 2–3 May 2023.^[22]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
UANL	3–4	León	2–1	1–3
Philadelphia Union	1–4	Los Angeles FC	1–1	0–3

Matches

25 April 2023 (2023-04-25)

22:00 (20:00 CDT)

UANL	2–1	León
Córdova 45' Quiñones 45+3'	Report	Dávila 6'

Estadio Universitario, San Nicolás de los Garza

Referee: Armando Villarreal (United States)

3 May 2023 (2023-05-03)

22:00 (20:00 CDT)

León	3–1	UANL
Ambríz 10' Mena 15' Frías 79'	Report	Fulgencio 68'

Estadio León, León

Referee: Saíd Martínez (Honduras)

León won 4–3 on aggregate.

---

26 April 2023 (2023-04-26)

21:00

Philadelphia Union	1–1	Los Angeles FC
Gazdag 86' (pen.)	Report	Acosta 90+1'

Subaru Park, Chester

Attendance: 17,676

Referee: César Ramos (Mexico)

2 May 2023 (2023-05-02)

22:00 (19:00 PDT)

Los Angeles FC	3–0	Philadelphia Union
Tillman 13' Opoku 82' Bouanga 90'	Report

BMO Stadium, Los Angeles

Attendance: 19,985

Referee: Drew Fischer (Canada)

Los Angeles FC won 4–1 on aggregate.

Final

Main article: 2023 CONCACAF Champions League final

In the final (Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2), the finalist which had the better performances in previous rounds hosted the second leg.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Host
1	Los Angeles FC	6	4	1	1	14	3	+11	13	Second leg
2	Club León	6	4	0	2	13	5	+8	12	First leg

Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Away goals scored; 5) Wins; 6) Away wins; 7) Disciplinary points (1 point for yellow card, 3 points for indirect red card, 4 points for direct red card, 5 points for yellow card and direct red card); 8) Drawing of lots (Regulations Article 12.9.5).

Summary

The first leg was played on 31 May, and the second leg was played on 4 June 2023.^[23]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
León	3–1	Los Angeles FC	2–1	1–1

31 May 2023 (2023-05-31)

22:00 (20:00 UTC−6)

León	2–1	Los Angeles FC
Tesillo 8' Mena 45+5' (pen.)	Report	Bouanga 90+6'

Estadio León, León

Attendance: 20,517

Referee: Walter López (Guatemala)

4 June 2023 (2023-06-04)

21:00 (18:00 UTC−7)

Los Angeles FC	0–1	León
	Report	Di Yorio 20'

BMO Stadium, Los Angeles

Attendance: 22,413

Referee: Iván Barton (El Salvador)

León won 3–1 on aggregate.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

  Team eliminated for this round.

Rank	Player	Club	By round								Total goals[24]
			1R1	1R2	QF1	QF2	SF1	SF2	F1	F2
1	Denis Bouanga	Los Angeles FC	3		2			1	1		7
2	Miche-Naider Chéry	Violette	2			2					4
3	Víctor Dávila	León			2		1				3
	Dániel Gazdag	Philadelphia Union		1	1		1
	Ángel Mena	León			1			1	1
	Julián Quiñones	Atlas		2		1
	Luis Quiñones	UANL			1	1	1
	Carlos Vela	Los Angeles FC		1		2
9	Jorge Benguché	Olimpia	2								2
	Julián Carranza	Philadelphia Union				2
	Sebastián Córdova	UANL		1			1
	Sebastián Driussi	Austin FC		2
	André-Pierre Gignac	UANL				2
	Elias Hernández	León		1	1
	Getsal Montes	Real España		2
	Andrés Perea	Philadelphia Union		2
	Brian Rubio	León		1		1
	Brian White	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	1	1

Team of the Season

CONCACAF selected the following players as the team of the tournament.^[25]

Pos.	Player	Team
GK	John McCarthy	Los Angeles FC
DF	Diego Palacios
	Aaron Long
	Adonis Frías	León
	Iván Moreno
MF	Fidel Ambríz
	Luis Quiñones	UANL
	Elías Hernández	León
FW	Víctor Dávila
	Denis Bouanga	Los Angeles FC
	Carlos Vela

Awards

Award	Player	Team	Ref.
Best Player Award	Víctor Dávila	León	[1]
Best Goalkeeper Award	John McCarthy	Los Angeles FC	[26]
Young Player Award	Fidel Ambríz	León	[2]
Top Scorer Award	Denis Bouanga	Los Angeles FC	[27]
Fair Play Award	—	Los Angeles FC	[28]

See also

• 2022 CONCACAF League

Notes

1. Due to the 2018–2023 Haitian crisis, Violette played their home matches at Estadio Cibao FC in Santiago, Dominican Republic.