2002 CONCACAF Champions' Cup

2002 CONCACAF Champions' Cup

Tournament details
Dates	February 3 – September 18
Teams	16 (from 7 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Pachuca (1st title)
Runners-up	Monarcas Morelia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	29
Goals scored	74 (2.55 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Alex Fernandes Juan Arango (4 goals)
← 2000 2003 →

The 2002 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, also known as the 2002 FC Champions Cup, was the 37th 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 featured a league format with 16 clubs. As part of the expansion, the quarterfinal stage for the current Champions Cup was moved to the first months of the 2002. Those clubs that had already qualified for the quarterfinal stage of the 2001 CONCACAF Champions' Cup were moved directly into the new league format.

To facilitate the shift to the new cycle of qualifying rounds in the latter half of one year and the league stage in the first half of the following, the decision was taken to use the current competition as the transition period and fold those clubs already qualified into the league format.

In addition, the winner and runner-up of the 2001 CONCACAF Giants Cup (Club América and D.C. United) was also merged into the first edition to provide both of those clubs the opportunity to compete for a spot in the 2003 FIFA Club World Championship, as they would have done under the previous competition system. This was convenient, as one of the qualifying MLS teams, Miami Fusion F.C., was folded after the 2001 season despite winning the MLS Supporters' Shield that year.^[1]

Club Comunicaciones, Tauro FC and Alajuelense, were elected as the top Central American non-qualifiers for the 2001 CONCACAF Champions Cup and finally the 2001 MLS Cup champions San Jose Earthquakes and the Mexican 2001 Invierno season champions Pachuca. Originally, 4 groups of 4 teams each, to be drawn in December or January, were planned, but at the end of November, CONCACAF changed plans once again and decided to play the tournament in a two-legs knock-out format, without a group stage. Because of this, the tournament's name was changed from CONCACAF Champions League back to CONCACAF Champions Cup.

The two finalists were supposed to qualify for the cancelled 2003 FIFA World Club Championship. Mexican club Pachuca beat countryfellow Monarcas Morelia 1–0 in the final to win their first CONCACAF trophy.^[2][3][1]

Qualified teams[]

North American zone[]

Morelia – 2000 Invierno champion
Pachuca – 2001 Invierno champion
Santos Laguna – 2001 Verano champion
Club América – 2001 Giants Cup champion
Kansas City Wizards – 2000 MLS Cup champion and 2000 MLS Supporters' Shield winner
Chicago Fire – 2000 MLS Cup runner-up
San Jose Earthquakes – 2001 MLS Cup champion
D.C. United – 2001 Giants Cup runner-up

Central American zone[]

Municipal – UNCAF champion
Saprissa – UNCAF runner-up
Olimpia – UNCAF third place
Comunicaciones – UNCAF fourth place
Tauro – UNCAF semifinal qualifier
Alajuelense – UNCAF semifinal qualifier

Caribbean zone[]

Defence Force – 2001 CFU Club Championship finalist
W Connection – 2001 CFU Club Championship finalist

Bracket[]

	First knockout round							Quarter-finals							Semi-finals							Final
	Morelia		2	1	3
	Saprissa		0	1	1
								Morelia		2	1	3
								Chicago Fire		0	2	2
	Municipal		0	0	0
	Chicago Fire		1	2	3
															Morelia		6	1	7
															Kansas City Wizards		1	1	2
	Tauro		1	2	3
	Santos Laguna		1	4	5
								Santos Laguna		2	0	2
								Kansas City Wizards		1	2	3
	W Connection		0	0	0
	Kansas City Wizards		1	2	3
																						Morelia		0
																						Pachuca		1
	Comunicaciones		4	1	5
	D.C. United		0	2	2
								Comunicaciones		2	0	2
								Alajuelense		3	3	6
	Alajuelense		1	2	3
	Club América		0	0	0
															Alajuelense		2	0	2
															Pachuca		1	2	3
	Defence Force		1	0	1
	Pachuca		0	4	4
								Pachuca		3	0	3
								S.J. Earthquakes		0	1	1
	Olimpia		0	1	1
	S.J. Earthquakes		1	3	4

First round[]

First leg and Second leg matches were played between February 3, 2002 and March 27, 2002.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
LD Alajuelense	3–0	Club América	1–0	2–0
Comunicaciones	5–2	D.C. United	4–0	1–2
C.F. Pachuca	4–1	Defence Force	0–1	4–0
San Jose Earthquakes	4–1	Olimpia	1–0	3–1
Monarcas Morelia	3–1	Deportivo Saprissa	2–0	1–1
Municipal	0–3	Chicago Fire	0–1	0–2
Tauro F.C.	3–5	Santos Laguna	1–1	2–4
W Connection	0–3	Kansas City Wizards	0–1	0–2

• Advancing clubs:
  LD Alajuelense
  Comunicaciones
  C.F. Pachuca
  San Jose Earthquakes
  Monarcas Morelia
  Chicago Fire
  Santos Laguna
  Kansas City Wizards

Quarterfinals[]

First leg and Second leg matches were played between April 14, 2002 and April 24, 2002.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Comunicaciones	2–6	LD Alajuelense	2–3	0–3
C.F. Pachuca	3–1	San Jose Earthquakes	3–0	0–1
Monarcas Morelia	3–2	Chicago Fire	2–0	1–2
Santos Laguna	2–3	Kansas City Wizards	2–1	0–2

• Advancing clubs:
  LD Alajuelense
  C.F. Pachuca
  Monarcas Morelia
  Kansas City Wizards

Semifinals[]

First leg and Second leg matches were played between August 7, 2002 and August 28, 2002.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
LD Alajuelense	2–3	Pachuca	2–1	0–2
Monarcas Morelia	7–2	Kansas City Wizards	6–1	1–1

• Advancing clubs:
  Pachuca
  Monarcas Morelia

Final[]

18 September 2002

Morelia	0–1	Pachuca
	Report	48' Silvani

Estadio Azul, Mexico City

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Felipe Ramos Rizo

Team details

Morelia Pachuca GK Miguel Fuentes DF Omar Trujillo DF Heriberto Morales DF Darío Franco DF Javier Saavedra  56' MF José A. Noriega  69' MF Jorge Almirón MF Mario Ruiz MF Carlos Morales FW Adolfo Bautista  52' FW Alex Fernandes Substitutions: MF Ismael Iñiguez  52' FW Martín Gómez  56' MF Hernán Buján  69' Manager: Rubén Omar Romano GK 1 Miguel Calero DF 2 Alberto Rodríguez DF 5 Francisco de Anda DF Jesús López Meneses DF 25 Marco Sánchez DF Manuel Vidrio MF Fausto Pinto MF Ángel Sosa MF 11 Cesáreo Victorino MF Andrés Chitiva FW 9 Walter Silvani  74' FW Sergio Santana Substitutes: FW Juan Arango  74' Manager: Alfredo Tena

Champions[]

CONCACAF Champions' Cup 2002 Winners
C.F. Pachuca First Title

Top scorers[]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Alex Fernandes	Monarcas Morelia	4
	Juan Arango	C.F. Pachuca	4
3	Dema Kovalenko	Chicago Fire	3
	Milton Núñez	Comunicaciones	3
	Eduardo Lillingston	Santos Laguna	3
6	Pedro Jiménez	Santos Laguna	2
	Sandro Alfaro	LD Alajuelense	2
	Erick Jimenez	LD Alajuelense	2
	Chris Brown	Kansas City Wizards	2
	Wilmer Lopez	LD Alajuelense	2
	Franz Torres	Monarcas Morelia	2
	Antonio Gonzalez	Monarcas Morelia	2
	Andrés Chitiva	C.F. Pachuca	2
	Sergio Santana	C.F. Pachuca	2
	Walter Silvani	C.F. Pachuca	2
22	Various		1

References[]