Everything To Know About the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup Draw

The Philadelphia Union will learn their first continental opponent during Wednesday's draw.

There ain’t no rest for the wicked.

Here we go again on the merry-go-round that is the Philadelphia Union’s fixture list.

It’s the blessing and curse that comes with being a successful club that the 2024 schedule will once again be loaded.

The Union will find out how they start the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup on Wednesday night.

The Competition

Concacaf rebranded the Champions League to Champions Cup and expanded the field to 27 teams.

The Union are one of a whopping 10 MLS teams competing in the reworked event. They qualified as the third-place team from Leagues Cup.

The competition tweeted out a friendly graphic with all 27 qualifiers on it after the Columbus Crew won MLS Cup.

https://twitter.com/TheChampions/status/1734254252162212332.

The Draw

Five clubs earned automatic entry into the round of 16 for winning competitions across North America.

Columbus (MLS Cup), Inter Miami (Leagues Cup), Robinhood (Caribbean Cup), Alajuelense (Central American Cup) and Pachuca (Liga MX champion with most accumulated points) are the five round-of-16 entrants.

Everyone else will play in the first round, which takes place over the four weeks in February. Every level of the competition contains a home and away leg until the final.

Club America, Monterrey and Tigres have already been assigned positions in the first-round bracket as the three highest qualifiers in the Concacaf Club Rankings.

Concacaf said it did this to avoid the top three teams in the Concacaf Club Rankings and the five automatic round-of-16 entrants from facing each other early in the competition. I can respect that move as an outside observer.

The Union are fifth overall and the highest-ranked MLS side in the Concacaf Club Rankings. Club America, Monterrey and Tigres are Nos. 1, 2 and 3. Club Leon, who did not qualify for the CCC, is No. 4.

That means the Union are the highest-ranked team in Pot 1.

Pot 1

Philadelphia Union

Toluca (Liga MX)

Chivas de Guadalajara (Liga MX)

Orlando City (MLS)

Nashville SC (MLS)

FC Cincinnati (MLS)

New England Revolution (MLS)

Houston Dynamo (MLS)

Pot 2

Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS)

Saprissa (Costa Rica)

St. Louis City (MLS)

Herediano (Costa Rica)

Comunicaciones (Guatemala)

Independiente (Panama)

Calvary FC (Canadian Premier League)

Forge FC (Canadian Premier League)

Real Esteli (Nicaragua)

Moca (Dominican Republic)

Cavalier (Jamaica)

The Union and all Pot 1 teams can’t face Club America, Monterrey and Tigres in the first round.

The Union will face a Pot 2 team in the first round. Their bracket position will also be drawn.

This is the bracket as it stands with the five round-of-16 qualifiers and three seeded teams already in the first round. Concacaf assigned specific bracket positions to all eight teams.

Top Half

Bottom Half

Tournament Schedule

Round 1: February 6-8, 13-15, 20-22, 27-29

Round of 16: March 5-7 (First Leg), March 12-14 (Second Leg)

Quarterfinals: April 2-4 (First Leg), April 9-11 (Second Leg)

Semifinals: April 23-25 (First Leg), April 30-May 2 (Second Leg)

Championship Match: June 2

Best/Worst Draw

It’s very obvious that the Union would love to reside in the top half of the CCC bracket.

That would take them away from Monterrey, Tigres, Columbus and Miami until the final.

Matchup 2 in the round of 16 would be the sweet spot for the Union. That would align them with Robinhood out of Suriname and allow them to avoid a Mexican club until the quarterfinals.

The Union will be favored in any of their first-round matchups, but the obvious preference is to stay away from Saprissa and fellow MLS sides Vancouver and St. Louis because they are the toughest sides in Pot 2.

A first-round matchup against either one of those three teams and a draw in the bottom half would be the worst-case scenario for the Union.

Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union.