The 2017 CONCACAF League (officially the 2017 Scotiabank CONCACAF League for sponsorship purposes) was the inaugural edition of the CONCACAF League, a football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
The tournament was created as part of a new CONCACAF club competition platform consisting of two tournaments (CONCACAF League and CONCACAF Champions League) and a total of 31 teams competing during the season (an increase from the previous 24 teams), with 16 teams competing in the CONCACAF League from August to October, and the winner of the CONCACAF League joining the 15 direct entrants competing in the CONCACAF Champions League from February to April. Details of the inaugural edition of the CONCACAF League was confirmed on 8 May 2017.
Olimpia defeated Santos de Guápiles in the final, and qualified for the 2018 CONCACAF Champions League.
A total of 16 teams participate in the CONCACAF League:
Therefore, teams from either 8 or 9 out of the 41 CONCACAF member associations may participate in the CONCACAF League.
The 13 berths for the Central American Football Union (UNCAF) are allocated to the seven UNCAF member associations as follows: two berths for each of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Nicaragua, and one berth for Belize.
All of the leagues of Central America employ a split season with two tournaments in one season, so the following teams qualify for the CONCACAF League:
If teams from any Central American associations are excluded, they are replaced by teams from other Central American associations, with the associations chosen based on results from previous CONCACAF Champions League tournaments. For this season, the two teams from Guatemala were excluded due to the suspension of their federation by FIFA and were replaced by an additional team each from Panama and Honduras.
The three berths for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) are allocated via the Caribbean Club Championship, a subcontinental tournament open to the clubs of all 31 CFU member associations. To qualify for the Caribbean Club Championship, teams have to finish as the champions or runners-up of their respective association's league in the previous season, but professional teams may also be selected by their associations if they play in the league of another country.
The runners-up, third-placed and fourth-placed teams of the Caribbean Club Championship qualify for the CONCACAF League.
The following 16 teams (from eight associations) qualified for the tournament.
The draw for the 2017 CONCACAF League was held on 31 May 2017, 19:00 EDT (), at the Hilton Miami Airport Hotel in Miami, Florida, United States, and was streamed on YouTube.
The draw determined each tie in the round of 16 (numbered 1 through 8) between a team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2, each containing eight teams. The "Bracket Position Pots" (Pot A and Pot B) contained the bracket positions numbered 1 through 8 corresponding to each tie. The teams from Pot 1 were assigned a bracket position from Pot A and the teams from Pot 2 were assigned a bracket position from Pot B. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other in the round of 16 except for "wildcard" teams which replaced a team from another association.
The 16 teams were distributed in the pots as follows:
In the CONCACAF League, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament. Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied, and if still tied, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations, II. D. Tie-Breaker Procedures).
The schedule of the competition was as follows.
All times were Eastern Daylight Time, i.e., (local times were in parentheses).
In the round of 16, the matchups were decided by draw: R16-1 through R16-8. The teams from Pot 1 in the draw hosted the second leg.
The first legs were played on 1âÂÂ3 August, and the second legs were played on 8âÂÂ10 August 2017.
Santos de Guápiles won 8âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
Chorrillo won 2âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
ÃÂrabe Unido won 5âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
1âÂÂ1 on aggregate. ÃÂguila won 4âÂÂ3 on penalties.
Olimpia won 3âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Alianza won 4âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
1âÂÂ1 on aggregate. Plaza Amador won 5âÂÂ4 on penalties.
Walter Ferretti won 5âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
In the quarter-finals, the matchups were determined as follows:
The winners of round of 16 matchups 1, 3, 5, 7 hosted the second leg.
The first legs were played on 15âÂÂ17 August, and the second legs were played on 22âÂÂ24 August 2017.
Santos de Guápiles won 2âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
ÃÂrabe Unido won 2âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Olimpia won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Plaza Amador won 2âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
In the semi-finals, the matchups were determined as follows:
The semi-finalists in each tie which had the better performance in previous rounds hosted the second leg. <onlyinclude></onlyinclude>
The first legs were played on 13âÂÂ14 September, and the second legs were played on 21 September 2017.
Santos de Guápiles won 1âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Olimpia won 8âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
In the final (Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2), the finalists which had the better performance in previous rounds hosted the second leg. <onlyinclude></onlyinclude>
The first leg was played on 19 October, and the second leg was played on 26 October 2017.
1âÂÂ1 on aggregate. Olimpia won 4âÂÂ1 on penalties.