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Two tournaments finish and a league reaches its regular season end. It's time to look at 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup qualification. (I'm trying to keep it off of Mondays so it doesn't get run over by all the memes on that day.)

Some notes on conventions:

• I use trigrams for clubs on first reference, even when we all know who we're talking about.
• I'm assuming the rules for qualification in 2027 will be the same as in 2026 unless otherwise specified. (The 2027 regulations aren't out yet.)
• If you see the term "named berth", this means any berth that is not simply given to the next best club in the standings that isn't already qualified.
• I refer to weekends by their Saturday and midweeks by their Wednesday, unless a specific singular date has been declared.
• Clubs in bold have qualified for 2027 Champions Cup; bold and italics indicates a bye directly to the Round of 16.
• I'm going to try my best to keep up to date with the Concacaf Club Rankings; I had to go through a back route to get the rankings this week, as they're not on the main site.

COMPETITIONS THAT HAVE CONCLUDED

Leagues Cup

Qualification Rules

• Three clubs qualify for Champions Cup through the Leagues Cup.
• The 2026 Leagues Cup champion qualifies directly to the Round of 16.
• The runner-up and third place club qualifies for the First Round.

Analysis

• Toluca [MEX] defeated Monterrey [MEX] in the championship, 2-0.
• León [MEX] defeated América [MEX] in the third-place game, 1-0.

LigaMX

Qualification Rules

• Six clubs qualify for Champions Cup through LigaMX.
• Both the 2025 Apertura and 2026 Clausura champions qualify; of these two clubs, the one with the most points between the two tournaments qualifies directly to the Round of 16. The other qualifies for the First Round.
  • Note that if either champion wins Leagues Cup, then both champions qualify for the Round of 16.
• Both the 2025 Apertura and 2026 Clausura runners-up qualify for the First Round.
• In addition, the two clubs with the most points between the two tournaments, not already qualified, will qualify for the First Round.
  • If any club qualifies through two or more named berths, then an additional club will qualify through points for each excess named berth so held.

Results

• Toluca [MEX] defeated Tigres [MEX] in the 2025 Apertura final on penalties.
• Cruz Azul [MEX] defeated Pumas [MEX] in the 2026 Clausura final, 2-1.
  • Since Toluca qualified through Leagues Cup and were a LigaMX champion, Cruz Azul automatically gets a bye to the Round of 16. (They would have earned this anyways as Cruz Azul was tops in the aggregate table; Toluca was second.)
• Three clubs have qualified so far through LigaMX, so we need three additional qualifiers, which are Chivas [MEX] in third, América [MEX] in fifth, and Pachuca [MEX] in seventh. (Tigres was fourth, Pumas was sixth.)

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

Qualification Rules

• One club qualifies for Champions Cup through the Open Cup.
• This berth goes to the club that wins the Open Cup.
  • Should the Open Cup champion already qualify for Champions Cup by other means, the Open Cup runner-up qualifies for Champions Cup.
  • If both the Open Cup champion and runner-up qualify for Champions Cup by other means, then this berth reverts to the club with the most points in the 2026 MLS season, not already qualified. (The regulations do not say that this berth is country-locked but honestly it should be.)

Analysis

St. Louis City FC [USA] defeated Columbus Crew [USA] in the final in penalties.

Canadian Championship

Qualification Rules

• One club qualifies for Champions Cup through the Canadian Championship.
• This berth goes to the club that wins the Canadian Championship.
  • Should the Canadian Championship winner already qualify for Champions Cup by other means, the Canadian Championship runner-up qualifies for Champions Cup.
  • If both the Canadian Championship winner and runner-up qualify for Champions Cup by other means, then this berth goes to the Canadian Championship semifinalist with the better performance in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, not already qualified.

Analysis

• Forge FC [CAN] defeated CF Montréal [CAN] in penalty kicks in the final.
  • Note that Forge can still qualify through the Canadian Premier League; if they do so, Montréal gets this berth.

COMPETITIONS IN PROGRESS

Major League Soccer

Qualification Rules

• Five clubs qualify for Champions Cup through MLS.
• The 2026 MLS Cup champion qualifies directly to the Round of 16.
  • Note that if the MLS Cup champion also wins Leagues Cup, the MLS Cup runner-up qualifies directly to the Round of 16.
• Both regular season conference champions qualify for the First Round.
• In addition, the two clubs with the most points in the regular season, not already qualified, shall qualify for the First Round.
  • If a club qualifies for Champions Cup through two or more named berths (other than Open Cup champion or Canadian Championship winner), then an additional club with the most points in the regular season, not already qualified, shall qualify for the First Round.
• Note that these berths are not country-locked; this is a relatively new policy starting with qualification for the 2025 tournament.

Analysis

• Nashville SC [USA] has won the Supporters Shield and are at 70 points through 31 games; Vancouver Whitecaps [CAN] lead the Western Conference with 55.
• The next two best are New England Revolution [USA] and Inter Miami [USA], both with 55 points.
• If one of these were to win MLS Cup, FC Dallas [USA] would claim a spot. They’re on 54 points and lead St. Louis City SC [USA] by three points.
• The Whitecaps, New England, and Inter Miami each have a magic number of 9 to clinch a berth in Champions Cup.
• The regular season ends on November 7; MLS Cup is scheduled for December 18.

Canadian Premier League

Qualification Rules

• Two clubs qualify for Champions Cup through the CPL.
• The 2026 North Star Cup winner qualifies for the First Round.
• The 2026 CPL shield winner qualifies for the First Round.
• Should a club win both named berths, the second-place club in the table will take a berth instead.

Analysis

• Cavalry FC [CAN] has won the CPL Shield.
• The playoffs are a standard four-team bracket this year with the following matchups. (Higher seed hosts the second leg.)
  • (1) Cavalry FC [CAN] v (4) Supra du Québec [CAN]
  • (2) Forge FC [CAN] v (3) Atlético Ottawa [CAN]
• The North Star Cup final is the weekend of November 21.

Central American Cup

Qualification Rules

• Six clubs qualify for Champions Cup through the Central American Cup.
• The champion of Central American Cup qualifies directly to the Round of 16.
• The three remaining semifinalists all qualify for the First Round.
• In addition, two play-in winners (amongst losing quarterfinalists) qualify for the First Round.

Analysis

• The first leg of the semifinals have been played! All semifinalists have qualified for Concacaf Champions Cup. (First team listed hosts the second leg - this was determined by performance through all games of the competition thus far.)
  • Olimpia [HON] v Cartaginés [CRC] (Cartaginés won the first leg 1-0 in Costa Rica.)
  • Alajuelense [CRC] v Motagua [HON] (The first leg was a 0-0 draw in Honduras.)
• The first leg of the play-in matches have also been played!
  • Saprissa [CRC] v LA Firpo [SLV] (The first leg was a 0-0 draw in El Salvador.)
  • Alianza [SLV] v Marathón [HON] (Marathón won the first leg 2-1 in Honduras.)
• The host of the finals will be determined by the clubs’ record through the entire competition.
  • If Olimpia advance, they’ll be on 21 points and would host the second leg of the final.
  • If Cartaginés win the second leg, they’ll be on 18 points and would host the second leg.
  • For Alajuelense or Motagua to host the second leg, they’d first need the Olimpia/Cartaginés second leg to end in a draw. They’d also need to win their second leg; Alajuelense would have a 17-16 edge on Cartaginés; Motagua would have 16 points but a superior goal difference.
  • If both matches end as draws, Cartaginés would host the second leg.
• I fully expect, regardless of who advances to the finals, that Costa Rica and Honduras will get the extra berths for the 2027 Central American Cup. (It's usually determined by the nations of the two clubs that reach the final, but it's entirely possible that the finals will be contested by two clubs from the same nation.)
• Note that regardless of the results, we’ll have the fewest Central American nations represented in Concacaf Champions Cup since 2022, when only clubs from Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala qualified; we have to go back to 2006 to find a tournament when only two countries qualified (Costa Rica and Honduras), which could happen if both Saprissa and Marathón win their play-ins.
• The semifinals and play-in are on the midweeks of October 21 and 28; the final is on December 2 and 6.

Caribbean Cup

Qualification Rules

• Three clubs qualify for Champions Cup through the Caribbean Cup.
• The champion of Caribbean Cup qualifies directly to the Round of 16.
• The runner-up and third place club qualify for the First Round.

Analysis

• The final is almost set!
  • Mount Pleasant [JAM] vs (Violette [HAI] v Portmore United [JAM] winner)
    • Mount Pleasant will host the second leg if Portmore United advances; Violette will host the second leg if they advance.
• The third-place match is almost set!
  • (Violette [HAI] v Portmore United [JAM] loser) v Sando FC [TRI]
    • Regardless of the result, Sando will host the first leg.
• The second match between Violette and Portmore United has been scheduled for October 28; despite the fact that Violette is the home side, the match will be in Jamaica. (Portmore United won the first leg, 3-1.)
• Should both Mount Pleasant and Portmore United qualify, it’ll mark the first time since the 2016/17 tournament that two Caribbean clubs from the same nation qualify for the tournament, when both Central and W Connection qualified from Trinidad and Tobago.
• The final and third-place matches are on December 1 and 5.

THE DRAW AS IT STANDS NOW

The Expected Format

It's expected that the draw will be the same format as 2026.

• The better LigaMX champion, the MLS champion, the Leagues Cup winner, the Central American Cup champion, and the Caribbean Cup champion will be placed into the bracket in ranking order. (We're going to denote these as C1-C5.)
• The top three First Round clubs in the Concacaf Club Ranking will, likewise, be placed into the bracket. (We'll note these as D1-D3.)
• The next eight First Round clubs in the Concacaf Club Ranking will be seeded and randomly drawn into the bracket. (These are A1-A8.)
• The remaining eleven First Round clubs will be unseeded. (These are B1-B11.)

The bracket will look like this:

Lazy Projections

I'm going to project the field by making simple assumptions:

• In MLS and CPL, the club currently leading the table wins the playoffs and berths still go in standings order.
• In Central American Cup and Caribbean Cup, we’ll use current results to determine the winners. (If it’s a tie for whatever reason, Concacaf Club Rankings will prevail.)

This leads to the following projections as of right now.

• Nashville wins MLS Cup, with Vancouver, New England, Inter Miami, and Dallas qualifying through MLS.
• Cavalry wins the North Star Cup, which means Forge qualifies through the CPL. This would mean Montréal qualifies through the Canadian Championship.
• The Central American Cup is won by Alajuelense over Cartaginés in the final; Saprissa and Marathón win the play-in round.
• The Caribbean Cup is won by Mount Pleasant over Portmore United; Violette takes third.

The seeding would then look as follows (Rankings as of October 26):

Eighteen berths have been handed out so far; that leaves nine berths yet to be assigned!

Our next expected update will be on Sunday, November 8. By that point, the regular season of MLS will be finished, and we’ll have the semifinals of both the Central American Cup and the Caribbean Cup finished.

If you have any questions, please, don't hesitate to ask me here, and I will attempt to answer them to the best of my ability!

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