Where will the the 2023 Concachampions final be played?
León booked their place in the final after beating Tigres 3-1 on Wednesday (4-3 agg.). Carlos Vela’s LAFC will be their rivals, with the final to be played over two legs.
Club León secured their ticket to the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League final where they will face none other than Carlos Vela and LAFC, who earned their place earlier this week after beating the Philadelphia Union 4-1 on aggregate. In a final, there can only be one winner but in this tournament, being able to bank on home support is always an advantage.
The defending champions Seattle Sounders didn’t qualify the current champion of the contest but the MLS is well represented by Los Angeles. There is no previous history between these two clubs and this will be just the second time that both have made it to the final (León were finalists in a four-team, round-robin format tournament 1993 while LAFC lost the 2020 final to Tigres). The Panzas Verdes will be keen to bring the trophy back to Mexico to recover the hegemony that seems to have been lost in recent years in international tournaments.
Deciding the order of the games: who is at home first?
As always, the final will be played over two legs with both finalists playing one leg at their stadium. The first leg will be played on Wednesday 31 May with the return taking place four days later on Sunday 4 June. Kick-off times have yet to be determined.
So who will be at home for the decisive second game, León or LAFC? The order of the games was determined by the number of points that each team gained during the tournament from the Round of 16 onwards with three points for a win and one point for a draw. The Californians edge it with 13 points (four wins, one draw and one defeat), while León finished on 12 points (four wins and two defeats).
That means that León will host the first leg at the Nou Camp with the second game to be played the BMO Stadium (formerly Banc of California Stadium) in LA. One thing is guaranteed: there will be a new champion as neither of the finalists have lifted the trophy before - whoever does will also qualify for the next edition of the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia as CONCACAF representatives.