At 8pm, the Montreal Impact and Club Deportivo FAS will take to the pitch to open the CONCACAF Champions League group phase. With its second straight qualification, here are some interesting facts about the Impact and the tournament you might not know.
- The CCL is an annual continental club football competition organized by the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) since 1962 for the top football clubs in the region.
- The winner of the CONCACAF Champions League qualifies for the FIFA Club World Cup.
- Mexican clubs have accumulated the highest number of victories, with 30 titles.
- The only MLS team to make it to the finals was Real Salt Lake, in 2011.
- Toronto FC is the only Canadian team to ever make the semi-finals in 2012.
- Mexican side Cruz Azul is the most successful club in the competition's history, having won the tournament six times. It’s the reigning Champion.
- The Impact is in group 3, with El Salvador’s C.D. FAS and the New York Red Bulls. The winners of each group will go on to the knockout round, and seeding will be based on their results in the group phase.
- The Impact is undefeated at home in CONCACAF Champions League play, going 5-0-2 in seven games since 2008.
- In 2008, the Impact reached the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal, winning the home leg against Mexican first division club Santos Laguna in front of 55,571 spectators at Olympic Stadium, on February 25, 2009.
- The winners of the CONCACAF Champions League do not automatically qualify for the following season's competition.
