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)

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 1996.

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 USA 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.

Club Deportivo Cruz Azul from Mexico won the final, its fourth CONCACAF championship.

North/Central American Zone

Group 1

First Round
Cruz Azul on bye to the Third round.

Alajuelense v FAS

9 March 1996 1st leg	Alajuelense	4–2	FAS	Costa Rica
	Gómez Montero Marín		Rodríguez Mayén

FAS v Alajuelense

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

• Alajuelense won 6–3 on aggregated.

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Árabe Unido v Real Estelí

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

Real Estelí v Árabe Unido

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

• Árabe Unido won 2–1 on aggregated.

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La Victoria v Victoria

17 March 1996 1st leg

La Victoria

1–3

Victoria

Belize

Victoria v La Victoria

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.

Victoria v Árabe Unido

16 June 1996 1st leg

Victoria

1–0

Árabe Unido

Honduras

Árabe Unido v Victoria

18 June 1996 2nd leg

Árabe Unido

2–2

Victoria

Honduras

• Victoria won 3–2 on aggregated.

Third Round

Victoria v Cruz Azul

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

Cruz Azul v Victoria

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

Alajuelense v Cruz Azul

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

Cruz Azul v Alajuelense

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.

Saprissa v Olimpia

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

Olimpia v Saprissa

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

Second Round

Saprissa v Necaxa

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

Necaxa v Saprissa

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.

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.

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.

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.

USA/Caribbean Playoff

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

• Seattle Sounders advance to the Final Group Stage.

CONCACAF 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:

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Comunicaciones Nicolas Suazo 44' Jose Fernandez 83'	2 - 0	Seattle Sounders

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Necaxa Carlos Pavón 14'	1 - 1	Cruz Azul Carlos Hermosillo 48'

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Seattle Sounders Peter Hattrup 91' (pen.)	1 - 4	Necaxa Sergio Almaguer 32' Cuauhtémoc Blanco 47', 89' Sergio Vásquez 75'

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Comunicaciones Milton Núñez 90'	1 - 2	Cruz Azul Hector Adomaitis 33', 37'

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Comunicaciones Julio Rodas 24', 48' Milton Núñez 32'	3 - 3	Necaxa Pedro Pineda 47' (pen) Carlos Pavón 60' José Luis Montes de Oca 70'

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Seattle Sounders	0 -11	Cruz Azul Francisco Palencia 3' Carlos Hermosillo 13', 32', 49' Julio César Yegros 15', 53', 62' Hector Adomaitis 34' Benjamin Galindo 35' Kieran Barton 72' (OG) Francisco Ramírez 74' (pen.)

Champion

CONCACAF Champions' Cup 1996 Winners
Deportivo Cruz Azul 4th title

References

• RSSSF Site