Historic Costa Rican Club Earns Wildcard Bid by Virtue of 2013 Costa Rica Summer Tournament Finish

Miami (Wednesday, May 29, 2013)- The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) is pleased to announce that Club Sport Cartagines will participate in the 2013-14 edition of the CONCACAF Champions League.

The storied Costa Rican Club, founded in 1906, won the CONCACAF Champions Cup – the predecessor to the current Champions League – in 1994.

Cartagines earned what will be its first bid to the regional tournament in its current format by virtue of its runner-up performance in the recently completed Costa Rican Summer Tournament, joining champion CS Heredia and Winter Tournament champion LD Alajuelense. Cartagines replaces a potential participant from Belize in the Champions League, as stadiums in that country are still being updated to meet the standards for hosting CCL play.

Costa Rica merited a third of the Champions League berths apportioned to UNCAF by virtue of the performance of its clubs in the 2012-13 edition of the tournament. Heredia and Guatemala’s Xelaju won their Champions League groups and advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament. Heredia secured ten points in group play, edging out Xelaju’s performance and locking up an additional bid for its league.

The draw for the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League is set to take place in Miami on Monday, June 3, sorting the 24 participating clubs into eight groups to dispute the initial phase of the tournament, beginning in August.