List of Central American football champions
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The CONCACAF Central American Cup is the top regional tournament for clubs from Central America.[1] Although, this tournament was first contested in 2023, multiple different former competitions have been played before to crown a regional champion. The official competitions that grant this title are the CONCACAF Champions Cup qualification stage (1964–1991), the UNCAF Interclub Cup (1999–2007) and the already mentioned CONCACAF Central American Cup (2023–present). Several clubs have also won the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the CONCACAF League and the CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup, however, these tournaments, although officials, also included teams from other regions from CONCACAF outside of Central America, therefore, not added to this list. There were other non-official tournaments played during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, such as the Copa Fraternidad[2] and the Torneo Grandes de Centro América,[3] being the most prominents.
| Year | Winners (number of titles) | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
| CONCACAF Champions Cup qualifying stage (1964–1998) | ||
| 1964 |  Uruguay (1) |  Municipal |
| 1965 | Saprissa (1) |  Águila |
| 1966 | Not held | |
| 1967 | Alianza (1) | Aurora |
| 1968 | Aurora (1) |  Olimpia |
| 1969 | No proper Central American stage programed; all rounds mixed with northern and/or Caribbean clubs | |
| 1970 | Saprissa (2) | Olimpia |
| 1971 | Central American stage for qualifying purposes only; no final programed. Both Comunicaciones (GUA) and Alajuelense (CRC) advanced to further stage | |
| 1972 | No proper Central American stage programed; all rounds mixed with northern and/or Caribbean clubs | |
| 1973 | Saprissa (3) | Alajuelense |
| 1974 | Municipal (1) | Alianza |
| 1975 | Saprissa (4) | Municipal |
| 1976 | Águila (1) |  Diriangén |
| 1977 | Saprissa (5) | Municipal |
| 1978 | Comunicaciones (1) | Saprissa |
| 1979 | FAS (1) | Cartaginés (withdrew) |
| 1980 | Universidad (1) | Marathón |
| 1981–1985 | No proper Central American stage programed; all rounds mixed with northern and/or Caribbean clubs | |
| 1986 | Central American stage for qualifying purposes only; no final programed. Both Alajuelense (CRC) and Motagua (HON) advanced to further stage | |
| 1987 | Olimpia (1) | Saprissa |
| 1988 | Alajuelense (1) | Olimpia |
| 1989 | Olimpia (2) | Herediano |
| 1990 | Olimpia (3) | Luis Ángel Firpo |
| 1991 | Real España (1) | Saprissa |
| 1992–1996 | No proper Central American stage programed; all rounds mixed with northern and/or Caribbean clubs | |
| 1997 | Central American stage for qualifying purposes only; no final programed. All Comunicaciones (GUA), Luis Ángel Firpo (SLV) and Cartaginés (CRC) advanced to further stage | |
| 1998 | Central American stage for qualifying purposes only; no final programed. All Saprissa (CRC), Luis Ángel Firpo (SLV) and Alajuelense (CRC) advanced to further stage | |
| 2008–2017 | No proper Central American stage programed; all Central American clubs qualified through their domestic leagues and the CONCACAF League on-forward | |
| UNCAF Interclub Cup (1999–2007) | ||
| 1999 | Olimpia (4) | Alajuelense |
| 2000 | Olimpia (5) | Alajuelense |
| 2001 | Municipal (2) | Saprissa |
| 2002 | Alajuelense (2) |  Árabe Unido |
| 2003 | Saprissa (6) | Comunicaciones |
| 2004 | Municipal (3) | Saprissa |
| 2005 | Alajuelense (3) | Olimpia |
| 2006 | Puntarenas (1) | Olimpia |
| 2007 | Motagua (1) | Saprissa |
| CONCACAF Central American Cup (2023–) | ||
| 2023 | Alajuelense (4) | Real Estelí |
| 2024 | Alajuelense (5) | Real Estelí |
| 2025 | Alajuelense (6) | Xelajú |
Other versions
The CONCACAF League was a second-tier competition organized by CONCACAF between 2017 and 2022 which served as a method of qualification to the CONCACAF Champions League.[4] The tournament was open to Central American, Caribbean and Canadian clubs, however more than 80% of the berths in each tournament were allocated to Central American clubs. Although not officially a regional tournament, in the Central American lore, the winners of this cup have been considered "Central American champions";[5] even more because after all editions, all winners and finalists happened to be from Central America.
| Year | Winners (number of titles) | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
| CONCACAF League (2017–2022) | ||
| 2017 | Olimpia (1) | Santos de Guápiles |
| 2018 | Herediano (1) | Motagua |
| 2019 | Saprissa (1) | Motagua |
| 2020 | Alajuelense (1) | Saprissa |
| 2021 | Comunicaciones (1) | Motagua |
| 2022 |  Olimpia (2) | Alajuelense |
Non-official competitions
These tournaments were exhibition association football cups played between Central American clubs, not necessarily by the domestic cup or league holders, but more often by invitation.[6]
| Year | Winners (number of titles) | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
| Championship of Central America and the Caribbean (1961) | ||
| 1961 | Alajuelense (1) | Águila |
| Copa Fraternidad (1971–1984) | ||
| 1971 | Comunicaciones (1) | Saprissa |
| 1972 | Saprissa (1) | Aurora |
| 1973 | Saprissa (2) | Águila |
| 1974 | Municipal (1) | Saprissa |
| 1975 | Platense (1) | Aurora |
| 1976 | Aurora (1) | Comunicaciones |
| 1977 | Municipal (2) | Comunicaciones |
| 1978 | Saprissa (3) | Cartaginés |
| 1979 | Aurora (2) | Real España |
| 1980 | Broncos (1) | Alianza |
| 1981 | Real España (1) | Olimpia |
| 1982 | Real España (2) | Xelajú |
| 1983 | Comunicaciones (2) | Aurora |
| 1984 | Final round abandoned | |
| Torneo Grandes de Centro América (1996–1998) | ||
| 1996 | Alajuelense (1) | Saprissa |
| 1997 | Alianza (1) | Saprissa |
| 1997–98 | Saprissa (1) | Municipal |
| Copa Premier Centroamericana (2019) | ||
| 2019–20 | Real España (1) | Olimpia |