CONCACAF Central American Cup
Secondary continental football tournament for clubs in Central America
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The CONCACAF Central American Cup (Spanish: Copa Centroamericana de CONCACAF) is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top regional tournament for clubs from Central America. It serves as a qualification method for the CONCACAF Champions Cup.[1]
| |
| Organizer(s) | UNCAF CONCACAF |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2023 |
| Region | Central America |
| Teams | 20 |
| Qualifier for | CONCACAF Champions Cup |
| Related competitions | CONCACAF Caribbean Cup Leagues Cup |
| Current champion(s) |  Alajuelense(3rd title) |
| Most championships | Alajuelense (3 titles) |
| Broadcaster | CONCACAF (YouTube) |
| Website | Official website |
 2025 CONCACAF Central American Cup | |
Alajuelense is the only champion in the tournament's history, winning all three editions.[2]
History
On 21 September 2021, CONCACAF announced plans for an expansion of the CONCACAF Champions League tournament from 16 to 27 teams beginning in 2024. As part of the restructuring, regional qualification tournaments would be held for teams from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean beginning in 2023. The CONCACAF Central American Cup replaced the CONCACAF League as the sole method of qualification to CONCACAF Champions Cup for teams from Central America.[3]
Competition format
The tournament is structured into a group phase and a knockout phase. During the group phase, the 20 teams are split into four groups of five. Teams play one game against each team in their group and the top two teams in each group advance to the knockout phase. The knockout phase consists of four rounds plus a play-in round for the losers of the quarterfinals.[4]
The two play-in round and four quarterfinal winners qualify for the CONCACAF Champions Cup. The Central American Cup winner receives a first round bye and advances directly to the Champions Cup Round of 16 while the other qualifying teams enter Round One.[4]
Qualification
A total of 20 teams representing all seven Central American Football Union members qualify based on the results of their domestic league seasons.[4] The qualification criteria for 18 of the berths is as follows:
| Nation | League | Participants |
|---|---|---|
| Costa Rica |
Liga FPD | 3 clubs |
 El Salvador |
Primera División de Fútbol de El Salvador | 3 clubs |
 Guatemala |
Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala | 3 clubs |
 Honduras |
Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras | 3 clubs |
 Panama |
Liga Panameña de Fútbol | 3 clubs |
 Nicaragua |
Liga Primera de Nicaragua | 2 clubs |
 Belize |
Premier League of Belize | 1 club |
For the 2023 edition, Costa Rica and Honduras were awarded an extra slot by having clubs that reached the finals of the 2022 CONCACAF League.[5] For the 2024 and 2025 edition, Costa Rica and Nicaragua were awarded an extra slot by having clubs that reached the finals of the 2023 and 2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup.[6] For the 2026 edition, Costa Rica and Guatemala were awarded an extra slot by having clubs that reached the finals of the 2025 CONCACAF Central American Cup.
Results
| Year | Champions | Results | Runners-up | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Alajuelense |
3–0 | Real Estelí |
Estadio Independencia, Estelí |
| 1–1 | Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela | |||
| 2024 | Alajuelense |
1–1 | Real Estelí |
Estadio Independencia, Estelí |
| 2–1 | Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela | |||
| 2025 | Alajuelense |
1–1 | Xelajú |
Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela |
| 1–1 (4–3 p) |
Cementos Progreso Stadium, Guatemala City |
Performances
| Club | Titles | Runners-up | Years won | Years runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alajuelense | 3 | 0 | 2023, 2024, 2025 | – |
| Real Estelí | 0 | 2 | – | 2023, 2024 |
| Xelajú | 0 | 1 | – | 2025 |
| Nation | Titles | Runners-up | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Costa Rica | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Nicaragua | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Guatemala | 0 | 1 | 1 |
All-time standings
- As of 3 December 2025
- Only top-10 showing (2023–present)
| No | Club | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | Df | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alajuelense | 30 | 18 | 10 | 2 | 53 | 26 | +27 | 64 |
| 2 | Real Estelí | 24 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 30 | 26 | +4 | 38 |
| 3 | Saprissa | 20 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 36 | 16 | +20 | 36 |
| 4 | Motagua | 24 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 36 | 32 | +4 | 35 |
| 5 | Herediano | 20 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 33 | 27 | +6 | 34 |
| 6 | Olimpia | 16 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 35 | 15 | +20 | 32 |
| 7 | Independiente | 16 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 23 | 22 | +1 | 24 |
| 8 | Cartaginés | 16 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 30 | 20 | +10 | 22 |
| 9 | Sporting San Miguelito | 12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 17 | 14 | +3 | 22 |
| 10 | Comunicaciones | 16 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 22 | 20 | +2 | 21 |