2018 Caribbean Club Championship

Qualified teams from 2018 Caribbean club competitions
CONCACAF Champions League	<img alt="Dominican Republic" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Flag_of_the_Dominican_Republic.svg/23px-Flag_of_the_Dominican_Republic.svg.png" decoding="async" width="23" height="15" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="900" data-file-height="600"> Atlético Pantoja
CONCACAF League	<img alt="Jamaica" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Flag_of_Jamaica.svg/23px-Flag_of_Jamaica.svg.png" decoding="async" width="23" height="12" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="1200" data-file-height="600"> Arnett Gardens; <img alt="Jamaica" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Flag_of_Jamaica.svg/23px-Flag_of_Jamaica.svg.png" decoding="async" width="23" height="12" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="1200" data-file-height="600"> Portmore United; <img alt="Martinique" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Snake_Flag_of_Martinique.svg/23px-Snake_Flag_of_Martinique.svg.png" decoding="async" width="23" height="15" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="750" data-file-height="500"> Club Franciscain

2018 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship
2018 Flow CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship
Tournament details
Host countries	Group stage:; Trinidad and Tobago (Group A); Dominican Republic (Group B); Final stage:; Jamaica
Dates	Group stage:; 31 January – 11 February 2018; Final stage:; 11–16 May 2018
Teams	8 (from 4 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Atlético Pantoja (1st title)
Runners-up	Arnett Gardens
Third place	Portmore United
Fourth place	Central
Tournament statistics
Matches played	17
Goals scored	43 (2.53 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Luis José Espinal (5 goals)
Best player(s)	Miguel Odalis Báez
Best goalkeeper	Miguel Odalis Báez
Fair play award	Central
	← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 Caribbean Club Championship was the 20th edition of the Caribbean Club Championship (also known as the CFU Club Championship), the first-tier annual international club football competition in the Caribbean region, held amongst clubs whose football associations are affiliated with the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), a sub-confederation of CONCACAF.

The winners of the 2018 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship would qualify to the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League, the second and third place teams would qualify to the 2018 CONCACAF League, while the fourth place team would play against the winners of the 2018 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield, as long as the Shield winners fulfill the CONCACAF Regional Club Licensing criteria, in a playoff match to determine the final Caribbean spot to the 2018 CONCACAF League.^[1]

Cibao were the title holders, but were not eligible to enter since they failed to reach the final of the 2017 Liga Dominicana de Fútbol. For the second season in a row, the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship was won by a team from the Dominican Republic, with Atlético Pantoja crowned champions and qualifying for the CONCACAF Champions League. Runners-up Arnett Gardens and third place Portmore United qualified for the CONCACAF League, but fourth-placed Central lost to Shield winners Club Franciscain in a playoff and failed to qualify for the CONCACAF League.

Teams edit

Location of teams of the 2018 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship

The CONCACAF Council, at its meeting on 25 July 2017 in San Francisco, California approved the implementation of the following two-tier competitions for affiliated clubs of Caribbean Member Associations starting in 2018:

The Tier 1 competition, known as the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship, is contested by the champions and runners-up of the top professional and semi-professional leagues in year 1 (2018), and open to only fully professional leagues in year 2 (2019) and onwards.
The Tier 2 competition, known as the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield, is contested by the champions of the top leagues in Member Associations that have no professional or semi-professional leagues in year 1 (2018), and open to amateur and semi-professional leagues in year 2 (2019) and onwards.

The new two-tier format of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship and CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield, as well as the teams participating in each tournament, were announced by CONCACAF on 15 December 2017.^[2] Among the 31 CFU member associations, four of them were classified as professional leagues and each may enter two teams in the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship.

A total of eight teams from four associations entered the 2018 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship (officially the 2018 Flow CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship for sponsorship reasons).^[3]

Association	Team	Qualification method
Dominican Republic	Atlántico	2017 Liga Dominicana de Fútbol champions
Dominican Republic	Atlético Pantoja	2017 Liga Dominicana de Fútbol runners-up
Haiti	Real Hope	2017 Ligue Haïtienne Série d'Ouverture champions
Haiti	Racing	2017 Ligue Haïtienne Série d'Ouverture runners-up
Jamaica	Arnett Gardens	2016–17 National Premier League champions
Jamaica	Portmore United	2016–17 National Premier League runners-up
Trinidad and Tobago	Central	2016–17 TT Pro League champions
Trinidad and Tobago	W Connection	2016–17 TT Pro League runners-up

Group stage edit

The draw for the group stage was held on 21 December 2017, 11:00 EST (UTC−5), at the CONCACAF Headquarters in Miami, United States,^[4] and was streamed on YouTube.^[5] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four. The two group stage hosts were placed in Pot 1, while the remaining six teams were placed in Pot 2. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.

Pot 1 (hosts)	Pot 2
W Connection (Position A1) Atlántico (Position B1)	Atlético Pantoja Real Hope Racing Arnett Gardens Portmore United Central

The matches were played between 31 January – 4 February 2018 (Group A) and 7–11 February 2018 (Group B).^[6] The top two teams of each group advanced to the final stage.

Group A edit

Host venue: Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, Trinidad and Tobago. All times local, AST (UTC−4).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Atlético Pantoja	3	2	1	0	6	0	+6	7	Final stage
2	Arnett Gardens	3	1	1	1	5	2	+3	4	Final stage
3	W Connection (H)	3	1	0	2	2	5	−3	3
4	Real Hope	3	1	0	2	1	7	−6	3

Source: CONCACAF
(H) Hosts

31 January 2018