CONCACAF has released its list of the best clubs in the region for 2023. The top team in North and Central America is Club América, which was just crowned Liga MX winner.
Major League Soccer (MLS) teams take up most of the top 45 spots, but Mexican clubs have taken the top spots near the top.
The other three teams in the top four are all from Mexico: Monterrey, Tigres UNAL, and Club Leon. This supports the idea that Liga MX is still the best league in the area.
In fifth place, Philadelphia Union is the highest-ranked MLS team. They are even ahead of the current MLS winners, Columbus Crew, who are in ninth place. The last team in the top 10 is Los Angeles FC, who came in second place in the MLS Cup after losing 2-1.
The full list released by CONCACAF through its official account on X (formerly known as Twitter) shows that there are 23 more teams from the United States than from Liga MX. There are also three more teams from Canada in the top 50, representing MLS: the Vancouver Whitecaps, the Montreal Impact, and the Toronto FC.
Olimpia from Honduras comes in at number 38 on the list, and Saprissa from Costa Rica comes in at number 43. These two teams are the only ones on the list that don’t play in MLS or Liga MX.
The CONCACAF ranking and how it works
The CONCACAF ranking and how it works
At the start of 2023, CONCACAF changed its ranking system. Now, teams get points based on how they do in official domestic league games, regional cup games, and the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
América won the title and came in first place in the Liga MX table at the end of the regular season of the Apertura 2023 event, so they were ranked first in the final 2023 rankings. With 1,257 points, they are only 12 points ahead of Monterrey, showing that the gap between the two teams is not as big as some might have thought.
