Sporting Kansas City resumes its run in the CONCACAF Champions League this week when they host Deportivo Saprissa on Thursday at Sporting Park. The match will kick off at 7 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1 and Univision Deportes Network. Limited tickets are available and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 888-4KC-GOAL.
It's been four weeks since Sporting KC's last CCL match, so we're here to give you a brief refresher on the Champions League and Sporting KC's participation in the continental competition.
What is the CONCACAF Champions League?
The CONCACAF Champions League is a 24-team tournament featuring the top teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. American MLS teams can qualify for the tournament through one of four ways: winning MLS Cup, winning the U.S. Open Cup and finishing first in the Eastern or Western Conference during the regular season. Sporting KC qualified for the tournament by winning the 2013 MLS Cup.
What is the format of the tournament?
The 24 teams that qualify are broken into eight groups of three teams. Teams from Mexico (LigaMX) and American MLS teams (one Canadian team qualifies separately) cannot be in the same group. Each team plays the other teams in their group twice (home and away). The team with the most points in each group at the end of the group stage advances to the quarterfinals. Sporting KC was drawn into Group 2 along with Nicaraguan side Real Esteli and Costa Rican side Deportivo Saprissa.
Who is Deportivo Saprissa?
Saprissa is one of the top teams in Central America with 30 Costa Rican first division titles to their name as well as three CONCACAF Champions' Cup titles. Saprissa is the last non-Mexican team to win the CONCACAF Champions League or the previous edition, the Champions' Cup.
Currently, Saprissa is in fourth place in the Costa Rican first division with 10 points through four matches. Despite their strong start to the season, they have not played at all in September, as four league matches were re-scheduled due to their players' participation in the Copa Centroamericano.
Two Saprissa players featured in Costa Rica's 2-1 win over Guatemala on Sunday in the Copa Centroamericano championship. Juan Bustos, who has one goal in two appearances for Saprissa this season, started and played 85 minutes for Costa Rica, scoring the team's game-winner in the 56th minute. David Ramirez, who has also tallied once for Costa Rica, started and was subbed off in second half stoppage time.
What are the current standings in the tournament?
Sporting KC is in third place in Group 2 with one point, but has only played one of their four group stage matches. Saprissa leads the group with four points after two games. Real Esteli is in second place with two points through three games. If more than one team is tied on points after all group stage matches have been played, the team with the greater number of points earned in matches between the teams concerned will advance to the quarterfinals.
Goal differential is a very important statistic in this tournament because the eight group winners are re-seeded prior to the quarterfinals. They are seeded 1-8 based on overall points earned in the group stage, but if multiple group winners are tied on points, the team with the better goal differential gets the higher seed and gets to host the second leg of a two-game quarterfinal series. Click here for a complete list of tiebreakers.
What happens if you win the Champions League?
The winner of the CONCACAF Champions League advances to the FIFA Club World Cup, a competition that features the winners from each continental tournament. Previous winners of the Club World Cup include: Bayern Munich (2013), Barcelona (2009 and 2011) and Manchester United (2008). No MLS team has ever competed at the Club World Cup.
How do you get tickets to the Champions League matches?
If you are a Sporting KC Season Ticket Member, tickets to both CCL group stage matches are included in your season ticket package. Thursday's match against Saprissa is Game B in your package. Next Tuesday's match against Real Esteli is Game C in your package.
If you are not a Sporting KC STM and if you have not yet purchased your tickets, you can visit Ticketmaster.com or call 888-4KC-GOAL. Per CONCACAF regulations, there will be no Standing Room Only tickets sold for CCL matches.
