Along with a chance to represent Canada in the 2008-09 CONCACAF Champions League and hopefully a chance to represent the confederation in the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup, the first-place team will be awarded the Voyageurs Cup trophy. The Voyageurs Cup trophy, which has been awarded to the top professional Canadian team since 2002, has been donated to the Canadian Soccer Association for the new Nutrilite Canadian Champions League.
The Nutrilite Canadian Champions League kicks off 27 May at the new Saputo Stadium in Montreal as the Impact will host Toronto FC. On June 17, the Vancouver Whitecaps FC will visit Montreal and on June 25, the Impact will play the return match at Swangard Stadium. The Impact will then play the final match of the tournament against Toronto FC, at BMO Field, July 22.
The 24-team CONCACAF Champions League will feature four clubs each from Mexico and the United States, two clubs each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, one club each from Canada, Belize, and Nicaragua, and three clubs from the Caribbean islands.
Sixteen of the 24 clubs - including Canada's entry - will take part in a preliminary home-and-away series in late August and early September. The preliminary round winners will join the other eight seeded teams in the group stage which will consist of four groups of four. All the teams in each group will play each other in a round-robin system during six match dates (three home games, three away games) from September 16 to October 30.
The top two clubs from each group will advance to the knock-out phase and play a home-and-away elimination. The quarterfinals commence in February 2009, with the semifinals to begin in March, and the final to take place in late April.
The CONCACAF Champions League winner will qualify as the CONCACAF's representative to the 2009 edition of the FIFA Club World Cup.
To purchase tickets for the May 27 and June 17 games at Saputo Stadium, call 514-328-FOOT (3668) or 514-790-1245.
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Source: Patrick Vallée, Montreal Impact
Info: 514-328-3668 (ext. 227)
