CONCACAF on Monday announced a new format and schedule for the CONCACAF Champions League, which will see the elimination of the group stage in favor of a second tournament and MLS participation from February through May of each year only.
The changes, which will be implemented beginning in the 2017-18 CCL, will not affect the number of MLS teams that are able qualify for the tournament, as the United States will continue to get four places alongside Canada’s one.
Instead of participating in a group stage, however, US and Canadian qualifiers will enter straight into the revamped CONCACAF Champions League, a 16-team knockout tournament starting in February that will feature those five teams, along with four qualifiers from Mexico, the winner of the Caribbean Club Championship, the national champions from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama, plus the winner of a combined Central American and Caribbean tournament that will take place from August to October of the previous year, replacing the current CCL group stage.