Jabloteh, Central FC getting ready for inaugural CONCACAF League

Jabloteh must take on Costa Rica’s Santos de Guápiles and Central are against Panama’s Deportivo Árabe Unido with only the aggregate winners progressing to the quarter-finals later in the month — the home-andaway format being the decider throughout, including the final in October.

Both Santos and Árabe Unido have familiarity with Trinidadian opponents having faced and Joe Public and W Connection, respectively, in past CONCACAF Champions League seasons while Jabloteh and Central are past qualifiers of the Champions League.

Jabloteh, the 2017 Caribbean Club Championship runners-up behind champions of Cibao FC of the Dominican Republic, must travel to Costa Rica against Santos on Tuesday in the first leg at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá before hosting the Costa Rica Premier Division side on August 8, from 8 pm, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.

Central FC meanwhile, the two-time former Caribbean champions and three-time reigning Pro League champions, are to host Árabe Unido on Thursday from 8 pm at the Hasely Crawford Stadium before travelling to the City of Colón in Panama for the second leg clash seven days later on August 10 against the Blue Express at the Estadio Armando Dely Valdés.

The 2017 Champions League features 13 qualified from across Central America -- Chorrillo FC, CD Plaza Amador and Deportivo Árabe Unido (Panama); Honduras Progreso, Platense FC and CD Olimpia (Honduras); Santos de Guápiles and LD Alajuelense (Costa Rica), CD Aguila and Alianza FC (El Salvador), Real Esteli and CD Walter Ferretti (Nicaragua); and Belmopan Bandits (Belize) -- and three from the Caribbean — Jamaica’s Portmore United — the other.

The overall Champions League 2017 champions will also qualify for next season’s Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League (SCCL), where they will join 15 more of the best clubs from the entire CONCACAF region, including the Caribbean and Central America, plus Mexico, the United States and Canada.

The overall champions of the SCCL will represent the region at the FIFA 2018 Club World Cup.

Jabloteh, Portmore and Central, by virtue of their runners- up, third and fourth-place finishes respectively at the CFU 2017 Caribbean Club Championship, qualified for the SCL, while Caribbean champions Cibao earned the region’s automatic spot at next season’s SCCL which runs from February to April 2018. ttproleague.com