2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup

The 2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup was the second edition of the CONCACAF Central American Cup, the first-tier annual international club football competition in the Central American region. It is contested by clubs whose football associations are affiliated with the Central American Football Union (UNCAF), a sub-confederation of CONCACAF.

2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup

Tournament details
Dates	30 July – 4 December
Teams	20 (from 7 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Alajuelense (2nd title)
Runners-up	Real Estelí
Tournament statistics
Matches played	58
Goals scored	152 (2.62 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Diego Campos (6 goals)
Best player(s)	Diego Campos
Best young player	Bryan Ordóñez
Best goalkeeper	Leonel Moreira
← 2023 2025 →

The winners of the 2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup qualified directly for the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16, while the second through sixth-place teams qualified to Round One of the same competition.^[1]

Teams

Twenty teams from the seven UNCAF member associations qualified for the tournament based on results from their domestic leagues.^[2][3][4] Eighteen slots are predetermined by CONCACAF and the remaining two slots were granted to Costa Rica and Nicaragua as the national associations whose clubs were finalists in the previous edition of the tournament.^[5][6] The slot allocation for this edition was as follows:

• Costa Rica: 3+1 berths
• El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama: 3 berths
• Nicaragua: 2+1 berths
• Belize: 1 berth

Association	Team	Qualifying method
Belize (1 berth)	Port Layola	2023–24 Premier League tournament champions (2024 Closing) with better record in aggregate table.
Costa Rica (4 berths)	Saprissa	2023–24 Liga FPD Apertura and Clausura champions[7]
	Herediano	2023–24 Liga FPD aggregate table best team not yet qualified[7]
	Alajuelense	2023–24 Liga FPD aggregate table second-best team not yet qualified[7]
	Guanacasteca	2023–24 Liga FPD aggregate table third-best team not yet qualified[7]
El Salvador (3 berths)	Águila	2023–24 Primera División Apertura champions[8]
	Alianza	2023–24 Primera División Clausura champions[8]
	Luis Ángel Firpo	2023–24 Primera División aggregate table best team not yet qualified
Guatemala (3 berths)	Comunicaciones	2023–24 Liga Nacional Torneo Apertura champions[9]
	Municipal	2023–24 Liga Nacional Torneo Clausura champions[9]
	Antigua	2023–24 Liga Nacional aggregate table best team not yet qualified[9]
Honduras (3 berths)	Olimpia	2023–24 Honduran Liga Nacional Apertura and Clausura champions
	Marathón	2023–24 Honduran Liga Nacional aggregate table best team not yet qualified
	Motagua	2023–24 Honduran Liga Nacional aggregate table second-best team not yet qualified
Nicaragua (3 berths)	Diriangén	2023–24 Liga Primera Apertura and Clausura champions
	Managua	2023–24 Liga Primera aggregate table best team not yet qualified
	Real Estelí	2023–24 Liga Primera aggregate table second-best team not yet qualified
Panama (3 berths)	Independiente	2023 Liga Panameña Torneo Clausura champions[10][11]
	Tauro	2024 Liga Panameña Torneo Apertura champions[10][11]
	San Francisco	2023 Liga Panameña Torneo Clausura and 2024 Liga Panameña Torneo Apertura aggregate table best team not yet qualified[10][11]

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.^[4][12]

Pot 1 Team Rank Saprissa 41 Olimpia 43 Alajuelense 50 Herediano 51

Pot 2 Team Rank Municipal 52 Comunicaciones 54 Antigua 55 Motagua 56

Pot 3 Team Rank Tauro 58 Marathón 59 Independiente 60 Guanacasteca 71

Pot 4 Team Rank San Francisco 77 Alianza 80 Real Estelí 83 Águila 86

Pot 5 Team Rank Diriangén 98 Luis Ángel 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.^[4]

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows.^[1]

Stage	Round	First leg	Second leg
Group Stage	Matchday 1	30 July – 1 August
	Matchday 2	6–8 August
	Matchday 3	13–15 August
	Matchday 4	20–22 August
	Matchday 5	27–29 August
Knockout	Quarterfinals	24–26 September	1–3 October
	Semifinals and play-in	22–24 October	29–31 October
	Finals	27 November	4 December

Group stage

Main article: 2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup group stage

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 winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the quarter-finals of the knockout stage.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		HER	MOT	DIR	TAU	SFR
1	Herediano	4	3	1	0	4	1	+3	10	Advance to Quarter-finals		—	1–1	—	1–0	—
2	Motagua	4	2	1	1	9	6	+3	7			—	—	—	4–1	3–2
3	Diriangén	4	2	1	1	4	3	+1	7			0–1	2–1	—	—	—
4	Tauro	4	1	0	3	4	8	−4	3			—	—	1–2	—	2–1
5	San Francisco	4	0	1	3	3	6	−3	1			0–1	—	0–0	—	—

Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results (points, goal difference, goals scored); 5) Fair play points; 6) Drawing of lots.

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ALA	COM	MAR	ALI	LAF
1	Alajuelense	4	4	0	0	11	6	+5	12	Advance to Quarter-finals		—	2–1	3–1	—	—
2	Comunicaciones	4	2	1	1	5	4	+1	7			—	—	2–1	1–0	—
3	Marathón	4	2	0	2	4	5	−1	6			—	—	—	1–0	1–0
4	Alianza	4	1	0	3	6	6	0	3			1–2	—	—	—	5–2
5	Luis Ángel Firpo	4	0	1	3	6	11	−5	1			3–4	1–1	—	—	—

Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results (points, goal difference, goals scored); 5) Fair play points; 6) Drawing of lots.

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ÁGU	ANT	OLI	CAI	PLA
1	Águila	4	3	1	0	10	1	+9	10	Advance to Quarter-finals		—	—	2–0	—	5–1
2	Antigua	4	2	2	0	7	3	+4	8			0–0	—	—	2–1	—
3	Olimpia	4	2	1	1	10	4	+6	7			—	1–1	—	3–0	—
4	Independiente	4	1	0	3	2	8	−6	3			0–3	—	—	—	1–0
5	Port Layola	4	0	0	4	3	16	−13	0			—	1–4	1–6	—	—

Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results (points, goal difference, goals scored); 5) Fair play points; 6) Drawing of lots.

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SAP	EST	MUN	MAN	GUA
1	Saprissa	4	3	0	1	10	4	+6	9	Advance to Quarter-finals		—	—	1–0	—	5–0
2	Real Estelí	4	2	1	1	6	3	+3	7			2–1	—	—	3–0	—
3	Municipal	4	1	1	2	4	4	0	4			—	1–1	—	—	3–1
4	Managua	4	1	1	2	4	7	−3	4			2–3	—	1–0	—	—
5	Guanacasteca	4	1	1	2	3	9	−6	4			—	1–0	—	1–1	—

Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results (points, goal difference, goals scored); 5) Fair play points; 6) Drawing of lots.

Knockout stage

Main article: 2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup knockout stage

The knockout stage will be played on a single-elimination tournament with the following rules:^[2]

• Each tie is played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The home team of the second leg in each tie was determined separately for each round as follows (Regulations Article 12.11):
  • In the quarter-finals, the group winners hosted the second leg.
  • In the semi-finals and play-in, the higher-ranked teams based on total points accumulated in the group stage and the quarterfinals hosted the second leg.
  • In the finals, the higher-ranked team based on total points accumulated in the group stage, quarterfinals, and semi-finals will host the second leg.
• In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, if tied on aggregate, the away goals rule would be used. If still tied, the penalty shoot-out would be directly used to determine the winners (Regulations Article 12.10.2).
• In the play-in and finals, if tied on aggregate, the away goals rule would also be used. If still tied, 30 minutes of extra time would be played but the away goals scored during this time would not serve as a tie-breaking criteria. If still tied after extra time, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 12.10.3).

Qualified teams

Group	Winners	Runners-up
A	Herediano	Motagua
B	Alajuelense	Comunicaciones
C	Águila	Antigua
D	Saprissa	Real Estelí

Seeding

Teams were seeded 1–8 based on results in the group stage and assigned a position in a fixed bracket. For example, the first semi-final was contested between the winner of the 1 vs. 8 quarter-final and the winner of the 4 vs. 5 quarter-final. For each round, the host of the second leg was determined based on performance in all previous rounds, including the group stage.

The following was the seeding for the quarter-finals round only:^[13]

Seed	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Matchups
1	B	Alajuelense	4	4	0	0	11	6	+5	12	Match QF1
2	C	Águila	4	3	1	0	10	1	+9	10	Match QF3
3	A	Herediano	4	3	1	0	4	1	+3	10	Match QF4
4	D	Saprissa	4	3	0	1	6	2	+4	9	Match QF2
5	C	Antigua	4	2	2	0	7	3	+4	8	Match QF2
6	A	Motagua	4	2	1	1	9	6	+3	7	Match QF4
7	D	Real Estelí	4	2	1	1	6	3	+3	7	Match QF3
8	B	Comunicaciones	4	2	1	1	5	4	+1	7	Match QF1

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 second yellow card/indirect red card, 4 points for direct red card, 5 points for yellow card and direct red card); 8) Drawing of lots (Regulations Article 12.11.4).^[2]

Bracket

The bracket was decided based on the quarter-finals seeding.

	Play-in							Quarter-finals							Semi-finals							Final
								7	Real Estelí	2	0	2
								2	Águila	1	0	1
	Águila		0	2	2										Real Estelí (a)		0	2	2
	Motagua		2	2	4										Herediano		0	2	2
								6	Motagua	2	0	2
								3	Herediano (a)	2	0	2
																						Real Estelí		1	1	2
																						Alajuelense		1	2	3
								5	Antigua	0	3	3
								4	Saprissa	0	0	0
	Saprissa		1	3	4										Antigua		0	0	0
	Comunicaciones		1	1	2										Alajuelense		0	1	1
								8	Comunicaciones	1	1	2
								1	Alajuelense	2	1	3

Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 24–26 September, and the second legs were played on 1–3 October 2024.^[13]

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Comunicaciones	2–3	Alajuelense	1–2	1–1
Antigua	3–0	Saprissa	0–0	3–0
Real Estelí	2–1	Águila	2–1	0–0
Motagua	2–2 (a)	Herediano	2–2	0–0

Play-in

The first legs were played on 22 and 23 October, and the second legs were played on 29 and 30 October 2024.^[14]

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Comunicaciones	2–4	Saprissa	1–1	1–3
Motagua	4–2	Águila	2–0	2–2

Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 22 and 24 October, and the second legs were played on 30 and 31 October 2024.^[14]

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Antigua	0–1	Alajuelense	0–0	0–1
Real Estelí	2–2 (a)	Herediano	0–0	2–2

Finals

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Real Estelí	2–3	Alajuelense	1–1	1–2

Top goalscorers

  Team eliminated for this round.

  Team inactive for this round.

As of 30 October 2024

Rank	Player	Team	GS1	GS2	GS3	GS4	GS5	QF1	QF2	PI1	PI2	SF1	SF2	F1	F2	Total
1	Diego Campos	Alajuelense	2	1		2		1								6
2	Agustín Auzmendi	Motagua		2						1	1					4
	Diego Casas	Comunicaciones			1		1		1	1
	Javon East	Saprissa	1	1						1	1
	Santiago Gómez	Antigua			1		1		2
6	José Ardón	Antigua	3													3
	Byron Bonilla	Real Estelí				2		1
	Rubilio Castillo	Motagua			1		1	1
	Gustavo Souza	Luis Ángel Firpo	1	1	1
	Styven Vásquez	Luis Ángel Firpo		2	1

See also

• 2024 CONCACAF Caribbean Cup
• 2024 Leagues Cup
• 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup