Get your winter gear out for FCC’s first CONCACAF Champions Cup (CCC) match for the 2025 edition!
Yesterday December 10th FC Cincinnati found out who they would be playing in their first match of the CCC 2025 Tournament and their path. With the help from US and Mexico National Team players, Jonathan Bornstein and Oribe Peralta respectively, the brackets were formed, and we now have a clear view of the challenges ahead.
Our colleague Gracin Galbreath wrote about how the teams were awarded a place in the tournament and you can read about it Here.
There are 27 teams from 10 different countries. They will compete on reciprocal visits (legs 1 and 2) throughout the tournament except for the final. While specific match dates have not yet been decided, the overall schedule is as follows:
- Round One: February 4-6 (Week 1), 18-20 (Week 2), 11-13 (Week 3) and 25-27 (Week 4)
- Round of 16: March 4-6 (First Legs) and 11-13 (Second Legs)
- Quarterfinals: April 1-3 (First Legs) and 8-10 (Second Legs)
- Semifinals: April 22-24 (First Legs) and April 29-May 1 (Second Legs)
- Final: June 1
Round One will have 22 teams, with the following 5 teams receiving byes for that round:
- Cavalier FC, Jamaica
- Club America, Mexico
- Columbus Crew, USA
- LA Galaxy, USA
- LD Alajualense, Honduras
The Round of 16 will then include the 5 teams that had byes. Subsequent rounds will continue with reciprocal visits, except for the final which will be held on June 1st.
This is what the final brackets look like, with 13 teams on the left bracket and 14 on the other one.
CONCACAF Champions Cup 2025 – Final Brackets
What stands out is that three MLS powerhouses, LAFC, Columbus, and Miami, all wound up in one bracket while Liga MX standouts (Pumas, Monterrey, Cruz Azul, Tigres, and Club America) are more or less evenly distributed between the two brackets.
Some key matches to look for are the potential for Club America to face their arch-rivals Guadalajara (think of it as Hell is Real at the national level). Another potential barn burner would be Club America against Cruz Azul. Club America has Cruz Azul’s number in the Liga MX playoffs so it should make for a very entertaining game. And of course we have the possibility of Inter Miami against Columbus.
FC Cincinnati, which is one of the top teams in the league, is in the bracket with a strong Seattle team but Liga MX has heavyweights Club America, Cruz Azul, and Tigres of Nuevo Leon. Despite the presence of these three Liga MX heavyweights in FCC’s bracket, the team seems to have landed in a place where they have a good chance of making a deep run, with some caveats which I will touch on.
FCC’s first leg match is against FC Motagua from Honduras in Honduras on February 19th. The second leg match will be on February 26th at TQL Stadium. Motagua have had strong success in the last 10 years, winning league titles, playing finals, or reaching the semi-finals in their league tournaments. They seem to be a very well-run club. Despite those accolades, FCC on paper will be the stronger team due to personnel, tactics, skills on pitch, coaching, and in general, experience playing stronger teams in international play such as Guadalajara, and Monterrey.
Here are some of the caveats for FCC specifically for their matches against Motagua. Playing in Honduras is always very tough. The fans get very hostile against non-Honduran teams (more than one CONCACAF team has fallen in Honduras, even at the national team level, due to the pressure from the fans). Honduran teams in general are very physical and rough. They know that skills wise, teams from the USA and Mexico have better individual skills overall so they will try to disrupt and intimate with hard physical play. Finally, there is the issue that FCC will be rusty since MLS season will not have started and they will have new faces on their roster. In other words, playing against Motagua will not be easy and the team will need to dig deep to make up for all these challenges.
Assuming they get by Motagua, they would probably face Tigres de Nuevo León in the round of 16. Tigres is always a tough opponent in international play, having reached the final of the Copa Libertadores in 2015, the final of the FIFA Club World Cup in 2020, and done well in CCC. In Liga MX they have also been very successful, winning multiple league titles and cup tournaments.
All in all, it was a favorable draw for the Orange and Blue but not having started league play and having new faces on the roster will be the key things to watch as they embark on this new challenge.
One last thought, wouldn’t it be fun to watch a Hell is Real CCC final? One can dream!
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