MIAMI, Florida – The 2022 Scotiabank Concacaf League is down to its final two teams, with Alajuelense from Costa Rica set to take on Honduran giants Olimpia.
The first leg is scheduled to be played on Wednesday, October 26 at the Estadio Chelato Ucles in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, while the second leg will take place on Wednesday, November 2 at the Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto in Alajuela, Costa Rica.
The second leg will be played at the home stadium of Alajuelense due to the Costa Rican club’s performance ranking throughout the 2022 SCL, which is the method used by Concacaf to determine which team hosts the second leg Final.
The Ticos earned 14 points while amassing a record of 4W-2D-0L, with 14GF and 3GA for a goal difference of +11 during the Round of 16, Quarterfinals and Semifinals.
Olimpia were just as good in earning exactly the same record of 4W-2D-0L and 14 points, however with 11GF and 3GA and a goal difference of +8, the tiebreaker belongs to Alajuelense by virtue of having a slightly better goal difference.
Unlike the earlier rounds of the tournament, the away goal tiebreaker is not applied in the SCL Final.
In addition, while all the previous rounds of the tournament went directly to a penalty shootout if the aggregate score was even after two legs, the SCL Final includes 30 minutes of extra time in the event that the teams are level on aggregate after 180 minutes.
This year’s Final is the third time that Olimpia and Alajuelense have squared off in the SCL. In tournament history, no two teams have ever faced each other that many times.
In the 2017 tournament, Olimpia eliminated Alajuelense 3-0 on aggregate in the Round of 16, while Alajuelense emerged victorious 5-4 in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw in their single game semifinal in 2020.
There is also a special place in Concacaf history for the winner of the 2022 SCL Final. Not only will it mark the first time that a club has won the SCL twice -- Olimpia were inaugural winners in 2017 and Alajuelense claimed the title in 2020 – but the winning club will go down as the last SCL winner ever.
The 2022 SCL is the final edition prior to the advent of Concacaf’s new Concacaf Central American Cup starting next year, which will serve as qualifying for the new Concacaf Champions League in 2024.