Portmore to fly Caribbean flag as Concacaf hosts glitzy SCCL draw in Mexico City
Portmore United FC will fly the flag of the Caribbean when they participate in the prestigious Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (SCCL) next year.
The Jamaican Red Stripe Premier League and Concacaf Club Championship champions will know their opponents at a glitzy draw to be staged at University of the Cloister of Sor Juana, in Mexico City, Mexico, tomorrow.
Portmore General Manager Clive Marshall said his club is looking forward to competing in the flagship club tournament of Concacaf.
“We are very excited by the opportunities ahead of us in the SCCL, because this was indeed an objective that we established in 2017.
“The challenge will be great as this competition will field the best of the best in Concacaf. However, we will embrace what comes our way and give it our very best effort,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
The draw event will determine the first-round matchups for the 16 competing clubs, and ultimately the pathway to the final for the region’s best. The draw will feature a red-carpet style event where guests from across the world of international football and Concacaf partners will attend.
The official draw will be executed using a double-blind system and four pots. Pots 1 and 2 will contain the names of the 16 participating clubs, while Pots A and B will contain the sixteen possible bracket positions for the first round of the competition.
Based on the 2020 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Ranking, which ranks clubs based on the performance of the countries over the last five seasons of play in the competition, the clubs will be distributed evenly in two pots.
In Pot one will be Montreal Impact (CAN), Club America (MEX), Cruz Azul FC (MEX), Tigres UANL (MEX), Atlanta United FC (USA), Los Angeles FC (USA), New York City FC (USA), and Seattle Sounders FC (USA).
Jamaica’s Portmore have been drawn in pot two with AD San Carlos (CRC), Deportivo Saprissa (CRC), Alianza FC (SLV), Comunicaciones FC (GUA), CD Olimpia (HON), FC Motagua (HON), and Club Leon (MEX).
At the end of the draw, each round of 16 pairing will feature one team from each pot. Additionally, as per the competition’s regulations, clubs from the same country will not face each other in the round of 16.
This tournament includes home and away in each round, in a direct elimination format.
The 2020 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League is set to kick off February 18-20 and 25-27, with the round of 16 matches. The quarter-finals, between the round-of-16 winners, will take place mid-March, followed by the semi-finals in the first two weeks of April.
The final, during which a new champion will be crowned, will be disputed April 28-30 and May 5-7.
Concacaf has announced that fans will be able to enjoy all the action through the Confederation’s partner networks, including TUDN (United States), Fox Sports Latin America (Mexico and Central America), ESPN (Central America), TSN (Canada), F low Sports (Caribbean), and other local partners.
In the previous edition of the SCCL, CF Monterrey topped city rival Tigres UANL, earning a fourth title and the right to represent Concacaf in the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar, 2019.
