MIAMI, Florida – The 2023 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Final between Los Angeles FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) and Club Leon of Liga MX promises to deliver another memorable two legs of football to determine the region’s club champion.

No doubt more notable achievements will be made by the players and teams, thus joining some of the other historical accomplishments of previous Finals.

Thus far, 26 matches in Finals have been played in the SCCL era, with 2020 and 2021 being the only years when the Final was decided by a single leg. In those previous Finals, only once has the title been decided by penalty kicks, coming in 2018 when Chivas edged Toronto FC 4-2 in the shootout after a thrilling 3-3 draw.

The SCCL Final is no stranger to goals, with 60 goals being scored in those 26 games, resulting in an average of 2.3 goals per game. A total of 37 different players have scored goals in the SCCL Final, with 36 goals coming from forwards, 17 by midfielders and six by defenders, plus one own goal.

Only three matches in the SCCL Final have resulted in a goalless draw, the last coming in the first leg of the 2013-14 Final when Cruz Azul and Toluca played to a 0-0 draw on Cruz Azul’s home soil.

Not only are Monterrey of Mexico the most decorated club in the SCCL era with five titles, but they also hold the record for the most Finals goals scored with 13, trailed behind by Club America (9 goals).

When it comes to scoring goals in Finals, players from Argentina and Mexico lead the way, as Argentinians have accounted for 20 goals, while players hailing from Mexico have 13.

Former Monterrey FW Humberto Suazo is the all-time top scorer in SCCL Finals with five goals, while ex-Club America man Osvaldo Martinez is the all-time leader in SCCL Final assists with three.

 
Humberto Suazo. 

The 4-2 victory for Club America against CF Montreal in the second leg of the 2014-15 Final is tied with Monterrey’s 4-2 win versus Santos Laguna in the 2012-13 Final second leg for the most goals scored in a Final leg. That Club America-CF Montreal series also has the most goals scored in a two-legged Final with eight.

The youngest player to score in a Final was Atlante’s Fernando Navarro at 20 years and four days old in a 2-0 win against Cruz Azul in the first SCCL era Final in 2008-09, while Andre-Pierre Gignac of Tigres became the oldest player to score in a Final when he tallied the winning goal in the 2-1 victory against Los Angeles FC in 2020 at 35 years and 18 days old.

The fastest goal in an SCCL Final match was Rodolfo Pizarro of Chivas scoring just 63 seconds into the first leg against Toronto FC in 2018. Pizarro would go on to win the Best Young Player Award for that year’s tournament.

The SCCL Final has also been a setting in which players have thrived and it has resulted in individual awards. In some cases, players have won multiple awards because of their stand-out performances.

Former striker Oribe Peralta collected Golden Ball honors in 2011-12 as a member of Santos Laguna, and then finished as the joint-top scorer with Club America in the 2014-15 edition. Ex-Cruz Azul FW Javier Orozco also earned honors in different tournaments, winning the Golden Boot in 2008-09 and then again in 2010-11. Orozco remains the only player to have won the same individual SCCL award in two different editions.


Oribe Peralta

In 2014-15, Dario Benedetto of Club America pulled off an impressive double of winning the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot, finishing tied on goals with teammate Peralta. Two years later, Pachuca’s Hirving Lozano won the Golden Boot and the Best Young Player Award.


Dario Benedetto

The 2020 SCCL saw Gignac earn Golden Ball and Golden Boot honors in leading Tigres to their first ever SCCL crown, while in 2022 Seattle Sounders GK Stefan Frei became the first player to win both the Golden Ball and the Golden Glove in the same season, as Seattle became the first MLS team to win the title in the SCCL era.