The New York Red Bulls were drawn with the winner of the Canadian Championship (Montreal Impact or Toronto FC) and El Salvador’s CD FAS in Group 3 of the 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League in an event held in Miami, FL earlier Wednesday evening.
The Red Bulls, who qualified for this year’s 24-team regional tournament after winning the 2013 MLS Supporters’ Shield, will be participating in the competition for the first time since the 2009-2010 iteration. New York will play both teams home and away in a round robin format and the club with the most points from the group will advance to the tournament’s knockout round. The winner of the CONCACAF Champions League will represent CONCACAF in the FIFA Club World Cup.
A complete match schedule from the group stage (running from August-October) will be announced by CONCACAF at a later date.
CD FAS, based in Santa Ana, El Salvador, qualified for the Champions League after finishing with a stronger aggregate record in its country in its most recent season. In their 2014 Clausura, FAS, managed by Efrain Burgos, finished first in league play with 36 points off an 11-4-3 record. This will be FAS’ third appearance in the CONCACAF Champions League.
The third team in the group will be the winner of the two-leg Canadian Championship between MLS sides Montreal Impact and Toronto FC. The first leg took place Wednesday evening at BMO Field with the teams tying 1-1. The return leg will be held at Stade Saputo on June 4 at 7:30 PM. So far in 2014 MLS regular season play, New York tied Montreal 2-2 at Olympic Stadium on April 5 and fell to Toronto FC 2-0 a BMO Field on May 17.
