1996 CONCACAF Champions' Cup

1996 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
Tournament details
Host country	Guatemala
City	Guatemala City
Dates	15 July– 20 July
Teams	4 (from 3 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Cruz Azul (4th title)
Runners-up	Necaxa
Tournament statistics
Matches played	6
Goals scored	29 (4.83 per match)
	← 1995 1997 →

The 1996 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 32nd edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It determined that year's club champion of association football in the CONCACAF region and was played from 9 March 1996 through 20 July 1997.

The teams were split into 2 zones (North/ Central and Caribbean). The North/Central zone was split into 3 groups, qualifying each winner to the final tournament. The winner of the Caribbean zone, earned a place in a playoff against the U.S. representative for a spot in the final tournament. All qualifying matches in the tournament were played under the home/away match system, while the final tournament was played in Guatemala City.

That final stage composed of four teams which played each other in a single round-robin tournament. Mexican team Cruz Azul won their fourth CONCACAF trophy, after finishing 1st. in the final table with 7 points over 3 matches played.^[1]

North/Central American Zone

Group 1

First Round
Cruz Azul on bye to the Third round.

9 March 1996 1st leg	Alajuelense	4–2	FAS	Alajuela, Costa Rica
	Rónald Gómez Mauricio Montero Luis Marín Murillo		Rodríguez Mayén	Attendance: 2,000

31 March 1996 2nd leg	FAS	1–2	Alajuelense	El Salvador
	Bolsonello 6'		56' González 89' Miso

Alajuelense won 6–3 on aggregated.

15 March 1996 1st leg	Árabe Unido	1–1	Real Estelí	Panama
	Clarke 58'		35' (pen.) Oliva

17 March 1996 2nd leg	Real Estelí	0–1	Árabe Unido	Panama
			74' Chiari

Árabe Unido won 2–1 on aggregated.

17 March 1996 1st leg

La Victoria

1–3

Victoria

Belize

14 April 1996 2nd leg

Victoria

4–2

La Victoria

Honduras

Victoria won 7–3 on aggregated.

Second Round
Alajuelense on bye to the Fourth round.

16 June 1996 1st leg

Victoria

1–0

Árabe Unido

Honduras

18 June 1996 2nd leg	Árabe Unido	2–2	Victoria	Colon, Panama
	Abdul Chiari Carlos Brown		Renán Aguilera x2	Stadium: Roberto Mariano Bula Stadium

Victoria won 3–2 on aggregated.

Third Round

23 October 1996 1st leg	Victoria	1–0	Cruz Azul	Honduras
	Aguilera 32'

5 November 1996 2nd leg	Cruz Azul	2–0	Victoria	Mexico
	de Oliveira 45' Zamora 87'

Cruz Azul won 2–1 on aggregated.

Fourth Round

4 January 1997 1st leg	Alajuelense	0–2	Cruz Azul	Costa Rica
			5' Hermosillo 75' Reynoso

8 January 1997 2nd leg	Cruz Azul	3–2	Alajuelense	Mexico
	Hermosillo 42' 58' Verdirame 54'		66' 73' Ledesma

Cruz Azul won 5–2 on aggregated.

Group 2

First Round

Necaxa on bye to second round.

17 March 1996	Saprissa	4–0	Olimpia	San José, Costa Rica
				Stadium: Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá

7 May 1996	Olimpia	3–0 (3–4 agg.)	Saprissa	Tegucigalpa, Honduras
				Stadium: Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino

Second Round

15 September 1996	Saprissa	2–2	Necaxa	San José, Costa Rica
	González 6' 79'		10' (pen.) Aguinaga 16' Zárate	Stadium: Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá

7 January 1997	Necaxa	2–1 (4–3 agg.)	Saprissa	Querétaro City, Mexico
	Zárate 48' Peláez 84'		17' Drummond	Stadium: Estadio Corregidora

Necaxa advanced to the CONCACAF Final Group stage.

Group 3

First Round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
CSD Comunicaciones	6–0	Cosmos	4–0	2–0
C.S.D. Sacachispas	5–3	Juventus Managua	3–1	2–2

Juventus F.C. on bye, to the second round.

CSD Comunicaciones

4–0

Cosmos

0–2
(0-6 agg.)

CSD Comunicaciones

March 21, 1996	C.S.D. Sacachispas	3–1	Juventus Managua
	Gustavo Benzano Lucio Catarino Da Silva Araeli López		Ivan Bravo

Juventus Managua

2–2
(3–5 agg.)

C.S.D. Sacachispas

Second Round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
CSD Comunicaciones	5–1	C.S.D. Sacachispas	2–1	3–0

Juventus F.C. on bye, to the third round.

CSD Comunicaciones

2–1

C.S.D. Sacachispas

0–3
(1–5 agg.)

CSD Comunicaciones

Third Round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Juventus	1–8	CSD Comunicaciones	1–1	0–7

CSD Comunicaciones advance to the Final Group stage.

Juventus

1–1

CSD Comunicaciones

7–0
(8–1 agg.)

Juventus

Caribbean Zone

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
US Sinnamary	w/o*	SV Prakash	0–0
SV Transvaal	w/o**	Red Star (Pointe-à-Pitre)

US Sinnamary withdrew after 1st leg*
Red Star withdrew before 1st leg**

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
SV Transvaal	1–0	SV Prakash	0–0	1–0

SV Transvaal advance to the USA/Caribbean playoff.

SV Transvaal

0–0

SV Prakash

1–0
(1–0 agg.)

SV Transvaal

U.S./Caribbean Playoff

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Seattle Sounders	10–0	SV Transvaal

Seattle Sounders advance to the Final Group stage.^[2]

17 June 1997	Seattle Sounders	10–0	SV Transvaal	Federal Way, Washington
7:30 p.m. PDT	Adair 2', 15', 79' Gailey 32', 38' Megson 42' Gelvezon 49' Crothers 70' Barton 73', 82'	Report		Stadium: Federal Way Memorial Stadium Attendance: 2,153

Final group stage

Final stage was played in Guatemala City, Guatemala. July 15–20, 1997.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Cruz Azul	3	2	1	0	14	2	+12	7
2	Necaxa	3	1	2	0	8	5	+3	5
3	Comunicaciones	3	1	1	1	6	5	+1	4
4	Seattle Sounders	3	0	0	3	1	17	−16	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Matches

All the games played in Guatemala City:

1996 CONCACAF Champions' Cup Final Stage

July 15, 1997

Round 1

Comunicaciones	2–0	Seattle Sounders
Nicolás Suazo 44' José Fernández 83'

July 15, 1997

Round 1

Necaxa	1–1	Cruz Azul
Pavón 14'		Hermosillo 48'

July 18, 1997

Round 2

Seattle Sounders	1–4	Necaxa
Hattrup 91' (pen.)		Almaguer 32' Blanco 47', 89' Vásquez 75'

July 18, 1997

Round 2

Comunicaciones	1–2	Cruz Azul
Núñez 90'		Adomaitis 33' (37)

July 20, 1997

Round 3

Comunicaciones	3–3	Necaxa
Rodas 24', 48' Núñez 32'		Pineda 47' (pen.) Pavón 60' Montes de Oca 70'

July 20, 1997

Round 3

Seattle Sounders	0–11	Cruz Azul
		Palencia 3' Hermosillo 13', 32', 49' Yegros 15', 53', 62' Adomaitis 34' Galindo 35' Barton 72' (o.g.) Ramírez 74' (pen.)

Champion

CONCACAF Champions' Cup 1996 Winners
Cruz Azul 4th title

References

^ Copa de Campeones 1996 on the RSSSF
^ Rice, Micah (June 18, 1997). "Sounders earn Guatemala trip with rout of Suriname club". The News Tribune. p. D6. Retrieved December 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

[1] Copa de Campeones 1996 on the RSSSF

[2] Rice, Micah (June 18, 1997). "Sounders earn Guatemala trip with rout of Suriname club". The News Tribune. p. D6. Retrieved December 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

[1]

[2]