The CFU Club Shield , also known as the CFU Caribbean Club Shield and formerly as the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield , is an annual Caribbean football competition for clubs that are members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). It is a second-tier competition to the CONCACAF Caribbean Cup (and formerly the Caribbean Club Championship ), introduced in 2018 for clubs which worked towards professional standards. It is organized by the CFU, with CONCACAF organizing it between 2018 and 2023.
7-873: Until 2022, the winner of this competition, as long as it fulfilled the licensing criteria, played against the fourth-placed team of the Caribbean Club Championship for a place in the CONCACAF League . Starting with 2023, the winner and runner-up qualify for the CONCACAF Caribbean Cup . On 25 July 2017 in San Francisco , California , the CONCACAF Council approved the implementation of a two-tier competition for affiliated clubs of Caribbean member associations, starting in 2018. The tier-one competition, known as
14-653: A similar format. This change was made in conjunction with the expansion of the CONCACAF Champions League starting from the 2024 edition. Thirty-one national associations affiliated with the CFU were invited to participate, with each eligible to send two clubs, usually their league champions and runners-up. However, many member nations did not send a representative team every year. CFU also allowed Antigua Barracuda , Puerto Rico Islanders , and Puerto Rico FC (all now defunct) to compete despite being members of
21-637: The CFU Club Championship or CFU Club Champions' Cup , was an annual international football competition held amongst association football clubs that are members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). The tournament served as a qualifying event for the CONCACAF Champions League and, from 2017, the CONCACAF League . In 2023, the tournament was replaced by the CONCACAF Caribbean Cup which follows
28-607: The United States league system . This tournament currently sent three or four teams to CONCACAF competitions: the champions enter the CONCACAF Champions League , the runners-up and third place teams enter the CONCACAF League , and the fourth place team competed in a playoff with the CFU Club Shield winner for a spot in the CONCACAF League. The CFU presented an exact replica of the championship trophy to
35-739: The Caribbean Club Championship, would be contested by the champions and runners-up of the top professional and semi-professional leagues in year one, and open to only fully professional leagues in year two onwards. The tier-two competition, known as the Caribbean Club Shield, would be contested by the champions of the leagues that had no professional teams in year one (2018), opened to semi-professional standards in year two (2019) and planned to be open to fully professional leagues by 2022. In 2023, both tournaments were restructured and renamed. The winner and runner-up of
42-574: The second-tier Caribbean Shield now qualify for the first-tier CONCACAF Caribbean Cup to be held later in the same month. On 30 April 2024, CONCACAF officially gave the responsibility to organize the Caribbean Club Shield to the Caribbean Football Union, and as such the name of the competition was changed to the CFU Club Shield. Caribbean Club Championship The Caribbean Club Championship , also known as
49-614: The winning team for their permanent possession. The following associations have never had any team participate in a Club Championship: Associations in italics have had teams participate in the Caribbean Club Shield A second-tier competition, called the CFU Club Shield , formerly known as the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield , was introduced in 2018 for clubs from non-professional leagues that worked towards professional standards. Until 2022,
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