Concacaf Champions Cup Draw to Set Stage for FC Cincinnati's First Competition of 2026: How It Works and What's at Stake
MLS FC Cincinnati

Concacaf Champions Cup Draw to Set Stage for FC Cincinnati's First Competition of 2026: How It Works and What's at Stake

Published on December 9, 2025 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Cincinnati News Release


FC Cincinnati is back in the Concacaf Champions Cup for the third year in a row and will look to start 2026 on the front foot with a matchup in the continental competition.

The 2026 gathering of clubs from around Concacaf (the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football) marks the 61st playing of the top tournament in the region and will pit 27 teams from 10 nations against each other in a knockout tournament for continental glory. FC Cincinnati earned passage into the tournament by finishing top four in the Supporters Shield Table, and due to previous success in both MLS and Continental Competition they have been placed into Pot 1 for the first round and will be drawn against a Pot 2 team for the opening round of the competition.

Concacaf Champions Cup is the premier tournament in the continent, with the title as best club team in the region and a spot in the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup on the line. The draw is set for Tuesday December 9th at 7 p.m. and will determine not only FC Cincinnati's opening match of 2026, but also their pathway to the final. Let's look at what the draw means, how it works, where FC Cincinnati fits into it, and how 2026 could be shaped by the draw itself.

The Draw

The Concacaf Champions Cup starts with the draw on Tuesday night and sets up the tournament. Given the qualification of the tournament we already know a few things about the bracket that help define the draw, but none of those yet include FC Cincinnati.

The Champions of MLS Cup, Liga MX, the Caribbean Cup, the Central America Cup and Leagues Cup are all given byes into the Round of 16 and have been placed in the bracket as such.

From there, all 22 other teams are placed into either Pot 1 or Pot 2 based on club ranking points with higher ranked teams placed into Pot 1 and teams with a lower rank into Pot 2. The top three teams in Pot 1 (Liga MX clubs Cruz Azul, Tigres UANL and Club América) are then placed into the bracket where, should they advance, they could not face any of the bye earning champions. That means every club in the rest of the bracket would need to face either a champion, or one of those top three clubs in the Round of 16.

This is where FC Cincinnati enters. As a Pot 1 club they will be drawn into the bracket at random, then, a Pot 2 club will be drawn as their competitor. Meaning one of the following 11 clubs will be FC Cincinnati's first opponent of the season:

San Diego FC (USA)

Club Olimpia Deportivo (Honduras)

Forge FC (Canada)

Atlético Ottawa (Canada)

CS Cartaginés (Costa Rica)

CSD Xalajú (Guatemala)

Sporting San Miguelito (Panama)

Real CD España (Honduras)

Defence Force FC (Trinidad and Tobago)

Vancouver FC (Canada)

O&M FC (Dominican Republic)

As the Pot 1 side, FC Cincinnati would go on the road against any of these teams in the first game before returning to TQL Stadium for the second leg of the series. While FCC have never played any of these opponents, there are some connections here.

The first of which is obviously San Diego FC, who is the only MLS club to fall into Pot 2 by virtue of 2025 being their inaugural season and there being no Concacaf history to boost them up. Also, FC Cincinnati have never faced Club Olimpia Deportivo but did play FC Motagua last year in the Concacaf Champions Cup and both of those clubs not only share a city, but a home stadium.

Once the draw is complete the bracket will be set and FC Cincinnati will know who they take on not only in this opening round, but will be able to track their potential opponents for the remainder of the tournament.

The Competition

Each round will be broken down into a two-legged, home-and-home series between clubs with the lower seeded team in each matchup hosting their leg of the series first. The scores will then be measured on aggregate, meaning whoever scores more over the two legs will advance with any ties first being measured on away goals scored before moving to extra time and penalty kicks if needed.

The first four rounds of the tournament will be played in the two-legged aggregate format, taking things from all the way from Round One to the Semifinal in this fashion. The Concacaf Champions Cup Final, which will be hosted by the higher ranked of the two sides competing, will take place on May 30 in a single-game final to decide on a champion.

In all, the Concacaf Champions Cup victor will play as many as nine matches to go from Round One to the final and will do so in the midweek of league matches the entire time.

Important Dates

While no official matchup dates are yet set, and will be announced in the days following the draw, there are a handful of windows for matches that have been announced that help shape a picture of the tournament.

In all, the tournament will run from February 3 to May 30 with a variety of dates set for Round One of the tournament to kick off. One phase of Round One matches will kick-off between February 3-5 for the first leg and February 10-12 for the second leg. The second phase of matches for Round One will kick off between February 17-19 for leg one and February 24-26 for leg two.

From there things get more stable. The Round of 16 would take place between March 10 and March 19 before taking a break leading into the quarterfinals on April 7 to April 16. The semifinals would be set for dates between April 28 and May 7 with the final set for May 30.

The Orange and Blue in the Champions Cup

This is FC Cincinnati's third year in a row in the Concacaf Champions Cup and are one of just three MLS clubs to qualify for the tournament in all three seasons. In each year, The Orange and Blue was victorious in Round One before falling in the Round of 16 to a Liga MX side.

In 2024, FC Cincinnati first visited Cavalier FC, champions of the Jamaican Premier League and qualifier via the Caribbean Cup, and won 6-0 on aggregate. First travelling to Kingston, Jamaica to win 2-0 before hosting the Jamaican side and winning 4-0. In the Round of 16 former FCC forward Brandon Vazquez and Mexican giants CF Monterrey came to Cincinnati and won 1-0 before eliminating FCC at Estadio BBVA with a 2-1 result bringing the aggregate to 3-1.

FCC continued their success in 2025 by visiting Honduran champions FC Motagua in Tegucygulpa and winning 4-1 before returning to TQL Stadium and seeing out a 1-1 draw to advance 5-2 on aggregate. In the Round of 16 it was another matchup against a Monterrey based Liga MX in Tigres UANL. FCC and Tigres drew 1-1 in the first leg at TQL Stadium and FCC took an early lead at El Volcan in Monterrey in the second leg, but Tigres stormed back to win that game 3-1 and advance.

FC Cincinnati will be looking to advance past the Round of 16 for the first time this season.

Once the draw is complete, check back here for more information as to who FC Cincinnati play, what the rest of the draw looks like, and when that game is scheduled for.

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Major League Soccer Stories from December 9, 2025


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