Concacaf has announced the draw procedures and pots for the 2021 edition of the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League tournament, with the made-for-TV event taking place Wednesday, February 10 at 7 pm ET.
The four MLS qualifiers — Atlanta United, Columbus Crew, Philadelphia Union and Portland Timbers, as well as Toronto FC if they win their Canadian Championship Final — will all be placed in Pot A. All Liga MX qualifiers will also be in Pot A, with the exception of Club Leon.
The draw will be conducted by Concacaf Director of Competitions Carlos Fernandez, who will be joined by former Mexico international Enrique Borja, and Orlando City SC head coach Oscar Pareja.
The draw will be broadcast for fans on Concacaf's TV partner networks, including FOX Sports (USA-English), TUDN (USA-Spanish), TSN and RDS (Canada-English and French) and other local partners.
The full breakdown of the draw procedure per Concacaf's Thursday release can be found below.
2021 SCCL Draw Procedures
The official draw will be executed using a double-blind system and four pots. Pots 1 and 2 will contain the spheres with the names of the 16 participating clubs. Pots A and B will contain the spheres with the bracket positions for the Round of 16.
Based on the 2021 SCCL Ranking, clubs will be distributed in Pots 1 and 2 as follows (in alphabetical order by country):
Pot 1 (clubs ranked 1-8): Forge FC or Toronto FC (CAN), CF Monterrey (MEX), Club America (MEX), Cruz Azul (MEX), Atlanta United FC (USA), Columbus Crew SC (USA), Philadelphia Union (USA) and Portland Timbers (USA).
Pot 2 (clubs ranked 9-16): Deportivo Saprissa (CRC), LD Alajuelense (CRC), Club Atletico Pantoja (DOM), Arcahaie FC (HAI), CD Marathon (HON), CD Olimpia (HON), Club Leon (MEX) and Real Esteli FC (NCA).
The Round of 16 bracket positions will be divided in Pots A and B as follows:
Pot A: A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7 and A8.
Pot B: B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7 and B8.
The draw will begin by randomly selecting a sphere from Pot 1, followed by a sphere from Pot A to confirm the club’s bracket position. The same process will apply for the remaining clubs in Pot 1, always drawing a club, followed by a bracket position from Pot A.
Once the eight clubs in Pot 1 have been assigned to a matchup, the first sphere from Pot 2 will be randomly drawn, followed by a bracket position sphere from Pot B. The same procedure will apply for all Pot 2 spheres.
At the end of the draw, each Round of 16 matchup will feature one club from each pot and no more than one club from each country, as per competition regulations, clubs from the same country cannot face each other in the Round of 16.
Concacaf will announce a complete schedule in the coming weeks.
