# 2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup

The 2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup is 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.
The winners of the 2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup will qualify directly for the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16, while the second through sixth-place teams will qualify to Round One of the same competition.

## Teams

Twenty teams from the seven UNCAF member associations qualified for the tournament based on results from their domestic leagues. 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. 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 |
| Costa Rica (4 berths) | Herediano | 2023–24 Liga FPD aggregate table best team not yet qualified |
| Costa Rica (4 berths) | Alajuelense | 2023–24 Liga FPD aggregate table second-best team not yet qualified |
| Costa Rica (4 berths) | Guanacasteca | 2023–24 Liga FPD aggregate table third-best team not yet qualified |
| El Salvador (3 berths) | Águila | 2023–24 Primera División Apertura champions |
| El Salvador (3 berths) | Alianza | 2023–24 Primera División Clausura champions |
| El Salvador (3 berths) | 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 |
| Guatemala (3 berths) | Municipal | 2023–24 Liga Nacional Torneo Clausura champions |
| Guatemala (3 berths) | Antigua | 2023–24 Liga Nacional aggregate table best team not yet qualified |
| Honduras (3 berths) | Olimpia | 2023–24 Honduran Liga Nacional Apertura and Clausura champions |
| Honduras (3 berths) | Marathón | 2023–24 Honduran Liga Nacional aggregate table best team not yet qualified |
| Honduras (3 berths) | 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 |
| Nicaragua (3 berths) | Managua | 2023–24 Liga Primera aggregate table best team not yet qualified |
| Nicaragua (3 berths) | Real Estelí | 2023–24 Liga Primera aggregate table second-best team not yet qualified |
| Panama (3 berths) | Independiente | 2023 Liga Panameña Torneo Clausura champions |
| Panama (3 berths) | Tauro | 2024 Liga Panameña Torneo Apertura champions |
| Panama (3 berths) | San Francisco | 2023 Liga Panameña Torneo Clausura and 2024 Liga Panameña Torneo Apertura aggregate table best team not yet qualified |

## 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.
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.

## Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows.
| Stage | Round | First leg | Second leg |
| Group Stage | Matchday 1 | 30 July – 1 August | 30 July – 1 August |
| Group Stage | Matchday 2 | 6–8 August | 6–8 August |
| Group Stage | Matchday 3 | 13–15 August | 13–15 August |
| Group Stage | Matchday 4 | 20–22 August | 20–22 August |
| Group Stage | Matchday 5 | 27–29 August | 27–29 August |
| Knockout | Quarterfinals | 24–26 September | 1–3 October |
| Knockout | Semifinals and play-in | 22–24 October | 29–31 October |
| Knockout | Finals | 27 November | 4 December |

## 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 | Teamvte | 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 | Advance to Quarter-finals | — | — | — | 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 | — | — |

### Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | Advance to Quarter-finals | — | — | 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 | — | — | — |

### Group C

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | Advance to Quarter-finals | 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 | — | — |

### Group D

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | Advance to Quarter-finals | 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 | — |

## Knockout stage

The knockout stage will be played on a single-elimination tournament with the following rules:
* 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:
| Seed | Grp | Teamvte | 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 |

### Bracket

The bracket was decided based on the quarter-finals seeding.
| Play-in | Play-in | Play-in | Play-in | Play-in | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| | | | | | 7 | Real Estelí | 2 | 0 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 2 | Águila | 1 | 0 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Águila | Águila | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | Real Estelí (a) | Real Estelí (a) | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | |
| Motagua | Motagua | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | | | Herediano | Herediano | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | |
| | | | | | 6 | Motagua | 2 | 0 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 3 | Herediano (a) | 2 | 0 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Real Estelí | Real Estelí | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Alajuelense | Alajuelense | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| | | | | | 5 | Antigua | 0 | 3 | 3 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 4 | Saprissa | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Saprissa | Saprissa | 1 | 3 | 4 | | | | | | Antigua | Antigua | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | |
| Comunicaciones | Comunicaciones | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | | | | Alajuelense | 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.
| 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.
| 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.
| 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

    As of 30 October 2024
| Rank | Player | Team | GS1 | GS2 | GS3 | GS4 | GS5 | QF1 | QF2 | PI1 | PI2 | Total |
| 1 | Diego Campos | Alajuelense | 2 | 1 | | 2 | | 1 | | | | 6 |
| 2 | Agustín Auzmendi | Motagua | | 2 | | | | | | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | Diego Casas | Comunicaciones | | | 1 | | 1 | | 1 | 1 | | | | 4 |
| 2 | Javon East | Saprissa | 1 | 1 | | | | | | 1 | 1 | | | 4 |
| 2 | Santiago Gómez | Antigua | | | 1 | | 1 | | 2 | | | | 4 |
| 6 | José Ardón | Antigua | 3 | | | | | | | | | 3 |
| 6 | Byron Bonilla | Real Estelí | | | | 2 | | 1 | | | | 3 |
| 6 | Rubilio Castillo | Motagua | | | 1 | | 1 | 1 | | | | | | 3 |
| 6 | Gustavo Souza | Luis Ángel Firpo | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | 3 |
| 6 | Styven Vásquez | Luis Ángel Firpo | | 2 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | 3 |