User:Quidster4040/sandbox/CCL/2016–17/2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League group stage

The 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League group stage will begin on 13 September and end on 7 December 2016. A total of 32 teams compete in the group stage to decide the 16 places in the knockout phase of the 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League.

Draw

The draw will be held on 25 August 2016, at the Miami Convention Center in Miami. The 32 teams will be drawn into eight groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association can not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams are seeded into four pots based on the following principles:

• Pot 1 contain the title holders and the champions of the top seven associations based on their 2015 CONCACAF coefficient.
• Pots 2, 3 and 4 contain the remaining teams, seeded based on their 2016 CONCACAF club coefficients].

Moreover, the draw will be controlled for teams from the same association in order to split the teams evenly into the two sets of groups (A–D, E–H) for maximum television coverage.

The fixtures will be decided after the draw. On each matchday, four groups play their matches on Tuesday, while the other four groups play their matches on Wednesday, with the two sets of groups (A–D, E–H) alternating between each matchday. There are other restrictions: for example, teams from the same city (e.g., América and UNAM) in general do not play at home on the same matchday (CONCACAF tries to avoid teams from the same city playing at home on the same day or on consecutive days, due to logistics and crowd control), and teams in certain countries (e.g., Canada, Cascadia, northern United States) do not play at home on the last matchday (due to cold weather and simultaneous kick-off times).

Teams

Below are the participating teams (with their 2016 UEFA club coefficients), grouped by their seeding pot. They include 22 teams which enter in this stage, and the 10 winners of the play-off round (5 in Champions Route, 5 in League Route).

Key to colours
Group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 16
Third-placed teams enter the SuperLiga round of 32
All other teams are eliminated

Pot 1 (by association rank) Team Coeff D.C. United 150.300 Monterrey 184.542 New York Red Bulls 58.455 Herediano 64.277 Olimpia 90.155 Águila 49.555 Vancouver Whitecaps 50.025 Suchitepéquez 25.770

Pot 2 Team Coeff América 181.029 Alajuelense 114.050 Columbus Crew 100.724 FC Dallas 99.022 UNAM 91.755 Montreal Impact 86.256 Querétaro 84.225

Pot 2 or 3 (TBD) Team Coeff Saprissa 80.642 León 79.616 Motagua 75.976 Isidro Metapán 70.049 Árabe Unido 68.044 Pot 3 Team Coeff Real Estelí 43.000

Pot 4 Team Coeff Police United 10.920

Notes

Format

In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 16, while the third-placed teams enter the SuperLiga round of 32.

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied in the order given to determine the rankings (regulations Article 17.01):

1. higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
2. superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
3. higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
4. higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;
5. if, after having applied criteria 1 to 4, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 12 apply;
6. superior goal difference in all group matches;
7. higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
8. higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
9. higher number of wins in all group matches;
10. higher number of away wins in all group matches;
11. lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in all group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
12. higher club coefficient.

Groups

The matchdays are 13–14 September, 27–28 September, 18–19 October, 1–2 November, 22–23 November, and 6–7 December 2016.

Times up to 29 October 2016 (matchdays 1–3) are EST (UTC–5), thereafter (matchdays 4–6) times are EDT (UTC–4).

See also

• superliga group stage