Club América, Monterrey continue Mexican domination of CONCACAF Champions League

The United States Men's National Team (USMNT) might be giving Mexico's El Tri a run for their money in the CONCACAF Gold Cup (the record stands at 8-7 in favour of Mexico) but it is a different ball game in the continent's top club competition, the CONCACAF Champions League. Club sides from the MLS have been unable to match the consistency and firepower that Liga MX  clubs bring to the continental competition. In no uncertain terms, United States teams are simply no match for the Mexicans in the CONCACAF Champions League. 

How many times have Mexican Clubs won the CONCACAF Champions League?

Mexico and Mexican club sides enjoy utter domination of the CONCACAF Champions League,  winning 36 out of the 57 finals played so far in the competition. For context, this means Mexican sides have won 63% of all the CONCACAF Champions League finals. The nearest challenger is Costa Rica which has produced the Champions on just 6 occasions. MLS clubs have won the prestigious title on just two occasions, DC United (1998) and LA Galaxy (2000).

Since the competition changed to the CONCACAF Champions League from CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2008, no country has produced the Champions other than Mexico. Mexican sides have produced the Champions in all 12 editions of the competition. Of the 12 finals, there have also been 8 all-Mexico finals. Real Salt Lake (2011), Montreal Impact (2015), Toronto FC (2018), and Los Angeles FC (2020) are the only non-Mexican sides to have made it to the showpiece event since 2008.

Who will play in the 2021 CONCACAF  Champions League final?

The 2020/21 CONCACAF Champions League final will take the trend of 8 of the past 12 finals, featuring 2 Mexican club sides fighting for the title. Philadelphia Union were the only US representatives in the semi-finals and they were summarily beaten by Club America for a 4-0 aggregate score. In the other semi-final clash, Cruz Azul and Monterrey battled it out to determine Mexico's assured representative in the final. The tie ended in favour of Monterrey, 5-1 on aggregate, to knock out the 3rd Mexican side in the last 4.

This means that it is again a certainty that the CONCACAF Champions League trophy would be coming to the Liga MX this season. The last non-Mexican side to win the competition was Costa Rica's Saprissa, who defeated Mexico's UNAM in 2005 final. With more editions to come and the MLS not having any representatives in this year's final, it looks set that Mexico's domination of the CONCACAF Champions League is not about to stop anytime soon.