The winners of the 2023 CONCACAF Central American Cup qualified to the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16, and the second through sixth place teams qualified to Round One.[1]
Teams
Twenty teams from the seven UNCAF member associations qualified for the tournament based on results from their domestic leagues.[2][3][4] For this edition only, Honduras and Costa Rica have been awarded an extra berth based on performance in the 2022 CONCACAF League.[5]
El Salvador (SLV): Originally, El Salvador's berths were reserved for the 2022 Apertura tournament champions, the 2023 Clausura tournament champions and the best team in the aggregate table,[13] however the Clausura tournament was terminated early without proclaiming a champion due to the events that occurred on 20 May 2023 during the match between Alianza and FAS at Estadio Cuscatlán. As a result, the Salvadoran Football Federation decided to reassign the Clausura champions' berth to the Apertura runners-up.[8]
Location of teams of the 2023 CONCACAF Central American Cup
The draw for the group stage was held on 8 June 2023 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 28 May 2023.[14][15]
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.[16]
Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows.[14]
In the group stage, each group is 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.
Each tie was 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 hosted 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 without the away goals rule during this time. If still tied after extra time, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 12.10.3).
Qualified teams
The winners and runners-up of each of the four groups in the group stage advanced to the quarter-finals.
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:
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.