CONCACAF Champions League
Founded back in 1962, the CONCACAF Champions League is a football competition for clubs from the Caribbean, Central America, and North America. The competition is organized by CONCACAF which stands for the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football. A total of 16 teams play at the championship, which is currently sponsored by the Bank of Nova Scotia and thus known as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League.
Teams
Teams that play at the competition include Toronto FC, Chivas, Tijuana, Cibao FC, Colorado Rapids, FC Dallas, New York Red Bulls, and many others. Clubs from Mexico have 34 victories, which is the highest number so far. The club that has the most titles (7 in total) is Club America or Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V, which is a Mexican professional football team owned by Grupo Televisa. The club has many FIFA trophies and plays at international competitions such as the CONCACAF Giants Cup and Copa Interamericana. Teams with a high number of titles also include the Mexican Pachuca (5), Cruz Azul (6), Monterrey (3) and Club de Fútbol Universidad Nacional A.C. (3). Founded in 1954, Club de Fútbol Universidad Nacional or UNAM is a Mexican football team that has trained many successful players such as Eduardo Herrera, Israel Castro, Pablo Barrera, Jorge Campos, Alberto Garcia, Luis Flores, and many others. The team plays at international tournaments such as Copa Sudamericana and the CONCACAF Champions League and domestic tournaments such as Segunda División de México, Campeón de Campeones, and others. Pachuca is also a Mexican football team that was founded in 1901 and is currently owned by Grupo Pachuca. The team won the CONCACAF Champions' Cup in 2016 – 2017, 2009 – 2010, 2008, 2007, and 2002.
The Costa Rican Deportivo Saprissa is another successful team that was founded back in 1935 and is currently owned by Horizonte Morado. The team has won more than 30 Primera División de Costa Rica championships. Deportivo Saprissa won the UNCAF Club Tournament in 2003, 1998, 1978, 1973, and 1972 and the CONCACAF Championship Cup in 2005, 1995, and 1993. Other teams that have won the CONCACAF Champions' Cup include Comunicaciones, Atlante, and Defence Force.
The 2018 Finals
Current league champions are Club Deportivo Guadalajara, a Mexican football team that defeated Toronto-based Toronto FC in the finals. Other teams that participated in the competition include Herediano, Motagua, Olimpia, Santa Tecla, Seattle Sounders, Tauro, and Tigres.
Toronto FC won against Club America and Colorado Rapids while Club Deportivo Guadalajara won against the New York Red Bulls and Cibao and lost against the Seattle Founders FC. The team of Club Deportivo Guadalajara included names such as Michael Pérez, Orbelín Pineda, Alejandro Mayorga, Oswaldo Alanís.
The 2018 finals were hosted at the Estadio Akron in Mexico and the BMO Field in Toronto, Canada. The first has a capacity of more than 48,000 and the second has a capacity of 30,000. Close to 40,000 spectators attended the finals. The referee was Óscar Moncada from Honduras. Please see http://www.tvsoccer.ca/ for scheduled games.