2024 Concacaf Champions Cup Draw Preview

Tournament and Draw Structure
It has been only a couple of days since the conclusion of the 2023 season for Major League Soccer and its clubs, but ten of the league’s sides will learn their continental fate for next season on Wednesday. Philadelphia Union is back in the Concacaf Champions Cup (formerly League) for the third time, with all of its appearances coming in the past four seasons. Jim Curtin’s side will be eager to return to a third semi-final in four seasons; however, their path looks far tougher than that of previous campaigns.

Twenty-seven clubs have earned spots in the first edition of the expanded competition, with LD Alajuelense, SV Robinhood, Inter Miami, Pachuca, and Columbus Crew earning a first-round bye for winning respective tournaments. The remaining 22 teams will begin the competition in Round One, which kicks off in early February. When it appears that this is starting to make sense, things get somewhat chaotic. Three teams in Round One are automatically seeded due to the Concacaf Club Rankings. Philadelphia is fifth in that metric. However, three of the four teams above them qualified, leaving the Union as the top unseeded team. This means very little
for Round One but provides a high likelihood of a difficult opponent if the Union advances.

As the highest remaining team in the Concacaf Club Rankings, Philadelphia is the top team in Pot 1. Clubs in Pot 1 will be randomly drawn into Round One ties against those in Pot 2. The three seeded teams that do not have a bye (Club America, Tigres UANL, and CF Monterrey) will also be drawn against a random team in Pot 2.

Pot 1 (8 best-ranked non-seeded clubs): Philadelphia Union, Deportivo Toluca, CD Guadalajara, Orlando City SC, Nashville SC, FC Cincinnati, New England Revolution, and Houston Dynamo FC.
Pot 2 (11 lowest-ranked non-seeded clubs): Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Deportivo Saprissa, St. Louis CITY SC, CS Herediano, Comunicaciones FC, CA Independiente, Cavalry FC, Forge FC, Real Estelí FC, Moca FC and Cavalier FC.

In simpler terms, Philadelphia will face one of the teams in Pot 2 to begin their campaign. However, the draw will not just give the Boys in Blue their first opponent of the season, but it will outline their entire path in the competition. The eight previously mentioned seeded clubs will all be placed in separate branches of the bracket, meaning that none of them can face each other in the Round of 16. Therefore, if the Union emerges from the first round, one of those eight opponents will await, barring an improbable loss for one of the Mexican clubs without a bye.

Best and Worst Possible Paths?
The Union will face one of the 11 sides in Pot 2 to begin the tournament, and within that group are a few tiers of opponents. I would absolutely like to see the Union avoid St. Louis and Vancouver, as they are simply the best teams in this pot. While clubs like Saprissa,
Comunicaciones, and Herediano provide difficult away legs, they should still be quite beatable for the Union. In a perfect world, a Caribbean opponent, such as Moca or Cavalier, would be the Round One foe, but as we learned from Austin last season, even that does not guarantee a win.

Outside of the two MLS sides, none of the other nine options appear particularly challenging for a team like the Union, and an exit in the opening round would be a shock. Where things get interesting is when looking ahead to the Round of 16 and beyond. As I mentioned, the five clubs with a bye are joined by the three seeded Mexican clubs to complete the list of eight hosts. The simple best case for the Union is to get drawn with SV Robinhood, the Caribbean Cup Champions from Suriname. Additionally, facing LD Alajuelense of Costa
Rica would be a solid draw for the Boys in Blue. Despite Alajuelense’s infamous home atmosphere, they are simply not at the level of the remaining clubs. It would not be the end of the world for the Union to face Columbus or Pachuca, as both clubs would be difficult to beat but not impossible. Finally, the remaining options for Philadelphia’s second opponent are Miami, America, Tigres, and Monterrey. Any of these four at full strength and on the road second would provide slim odds for the Union. Then again, you have to beat the best in this tournament, so I am being quite picky.

In summary, the Union will face a randomly drawn Pot 2 club in Round One, and should it advance, one of the eight clubs not in the pots will likely await Curtin’s side. Tune into the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup Draw this Wednesday, December 13, at 7 p.m.
ET. You can watch it on Fox Sports 2 or follow along at @phlsoccernow on Twitter/X.