Concacaf Champions Cup – It’s Back! | OneFootball

The Concacaf Champions Cup exists to crown a “best” club within the Concacaf Soccer Federation. Basically, it’s the much smaller cousin of the UEFA Champions League. The competition winner receives an automatic qualification for the FIFA Club World Cup.

This year, 27 clubs will participate in the Cup. Five of these get byes through to the first round, by virtue of winning specific regional competitions. These are:

How and Where to Watch

Some games will be broadcast in the U.S. via FOX. Others may be broadcast on Spanish-language channels like Univision or TUDN. But my research indicates that all games will be streaming on TUBI’s FOX Sports channel for free. The catch is you only get one free hour. If you use an incognito browser window, your should be able to bypass this restriction. Good luck!

Round One

The remaining 22 clubs will play Round One, a two-leg set of fixtures with the aggregate winner advancing. These fixtures are played throughout the month of February, with the first three starting tonight. They’re detailed below.

Forge FC vs. Tigres UANL

Hamilton Stadium, Hamilton, ON, CAKickoff: 7pm ET / 4pm PTBroadcast on TUDN (Español)

Ottawa’s Forge FC won the Canadian Premier League Shield for the most season points despite dropping their last two games, finishing just ahead of Atlético Ottawa. They were undefeated at home, with nine wins and five draws. Any of those results against a strong Tigres team would be welcome. Forge will need stellar performances from their three attackers: Brian Wright, Nana Ampomah and Hoce Massunda. That trifecta contributed to 58% of the team’s goals last season (30 of 52). Defensively, Rezart Rama and Alessandro Hojabrpour will have their hands full.

We’ve written a lot about Tigres, and they are the clear favorites to win the contest, though not necessarily this leg. They’ll be playing in Hamilton, where it is VERY cold. Temperatures will be below freezing at kickoff, and only get worse. How this will impact Tigres remains to be seen, but current hot goal scorer Marcelo Flores will carry the burden of putting the visitors on the scoresheet. Last season’s Apertura scoring leaders, Juan Brunetta (below) and Ángel Correa, have yet to make a contribution for the club, which is now four games into the 2026 Clausura.

CD Olimpia vs. Club América

Estadio Chelato Uclés, TegucigalpaKickoff: 9pm ET / 6pm PT

Club Deportivo Olimpia is Honduras’ most successful club domestically and internationally. They are the only Honduran club to have lifted the Champions Cup (in 1972 and 1988) and have appeared in the competition 25 times. They qualified this year via the Central American Cup, where they were semi-finalists. The team relies heavily on the attacking prowess of Jorge Benguché, who has 16 goals in his last 30 games. Stop him, and you stop Olimpia.

Club Ámerica needs no introduction. One of the most prominent sides from Liga MX, they share the record for most Champions Cup wins (7) with fellow Ciudad de México rival Cruz Azul. Last season they suffered two big defeats. The first was to LAFC in the single elimination match to qualify for the Club World Cup; the second was to Monterrey in the second leg of the Apertura playoffs. Champions Cup success is part of this team’s DNA, so despite some recent defections they’ll be primed to win.

San Diego FC vs. Pumas UNAM

Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, CAKickoff: 11pm ET / 8pm PTBroadcast on FOX2 and TUDN (Español)

San Diego will make their maiden appearance in the Champions Cup, having punched their ticket by winning the MLS Western Conference in their inaugural season. Honestly, they have the WORST draw possible. Not only do they play Pumas in this leg, if they win they get to play the defending Apertua champions Toluca. Of course, if SDFC triumph it would simply continue what has already been a tremendous journey for the fledgling club.

The good news is that the core side that performed so well last season remains. Anders Dreyer recorded 40 goal contributions last season (23g/17a), and even though the status of Hirving “Chucky” Lozano remains unknown, the team has enough firepower and defensive steel to meet Pumas head on.

Pumas have had a busy offseason, signing seven new players. Key standouts include Uriel Antuna, a winger who’s coming in from Tigres, and Juninho Vieira, a red-hot Brazilian striker coming in from Flamengo. Whether all this new blood will perform effectively in such a short time is the big question. In either event, this is a marquee matchup that you should not miss.

Editor’s note: an earlier version of this story incorrectly identified San Diego’s next opponent (if they advance) as Cruz Azul, not Toluca. We apologize for the error.