1973 CONCACAF Champions' Cup

The 1973 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 9th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It determined that year's club champion of association football in the CONCACAF region. The tournament was originally scheduled to be played by 16 teams of 9 countries from 1 June to 3 August 1973 with the matches in the tournament played under the home/away match, but a final series was set up for 8 and 10 January 1974, after no team from either of the other two sections participated.

The teams were split into zones (North American, Central American and Caribbean), each one qualifying the winner to participate in the final tournament. As no clubs entered in the North American section, the winner of the two remaining zones gained the qualification to the final, but both Central American teams withdrew; therefore the final was scratched and the Caribbean winner, Transvaal from Suriname, won the tournament, becoming CONCACAF champion for the first time.^[1]

North American Zone

The zone was cancelled as no clubs entered.

Central American Zone

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Vida	0–3	Saprissa	0–2	0–1
Municipal	1–01	Olimpia	0–0	1–0
Alajuelense	4–0	Águila	3–0	1–02
Comunicaciones	1–0	Juventud Olímpica	0–0	1–0

Saprissa, Alajuelense and Comunicaciones advanced to the Central American Zone second round.
¹ CSD Municipal later withdrew.
² The match was abandoned in the 68th minute with Alajuelense leading 1–0 due to torrential rain which flooded the pitch; the result was allowed to stand.

Vida v Saprissa

1 June 1973	Vida	0–2	Saprissa
	Nil		Carlos Solano Gerardo Solano

Saprissa v Vida

24 June 1973	Saprissa	1–0 (3–0 agg.)	Vida	San José, Costa Rica
	Gerardo Solano		Nil	Stadium: Ricardo Saprissa Stadium

Municipal v Olimpia

18 July 1973	Municipal	0–0	Olimpia
	Nil		Nil

Olimpia v Municipal

25 July 1973	Olimpia	0–1 (0–1 agg.)	Municipal
	Nil		Leonardo McNish

Alajuelense v Águila

24 June 1973	Alajuelense	3–0	Águila
	Roy Saénz Walter Elizondo		Nil

Águila v Alajuelense

29 June 1973	Águila	0–1 (0–4 agg.)	Alajuelense
	Nil		Walter Elizondo

Comunicaciones v Juventud Olímpica

11 June 1973	Comunicaciones	0–0	Juventud Olímpica
	Nil		Nil

Juventud Olímpica v Comunicaciones

3 August 1973	Juventud Olímpica	0–1 (0–1 agg.)	Comunicaciones
	Nil		Erwin Torres

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Deportivo Santa Cecilia1	1–8	Alajuelense	0–5	1–3
Comunicaciones	1–4	Saprissa	1–0	0–4

¹Deportivo Santa Cecilia replaced Municipal, who withdrew.
Saprissa and Alajuelense advance to the Central American Zone third round.

Alajuelense v Deportivo Santa Cecilia

3 August 1973	Alajuelense	5–0	Deportivo Santa Cecilia
	Richard González Alfredo Piedra Roy Sáenz Javier Jimenez		Nil

Deportivo Santa Cecilia v Alajuelense

10 September 1973	Deportivo Santa Cecilia	1–3 (1–8 agg.)	Alajuelense	Diriamba, Nicaragua
	Gerardo Barrios		Alfonso Obregón Javier Jimenez	Stadium: Estadio La Salle

Comunicaciones v Saprissa

8 October 1973	Comunicaciones	1–0	Saprissa	Guatemala City, Guatemala
	Félix McDonald		Nil	Stadium: Mateo Flores Stadium

Saprissa v Comunicaciones

15 October 1973	Saprissa	4–0 (4–1 agg.)	Comunicaciones	San Jose, Costa Rica
	Wilberth Barquero Hernán Morales Gerardo Solano Carlos Solano		Nil	Stadium: San José’s Ricardo Saprissa Stadium Attendance: 5,586

Third round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Alajuelense	0–2	Saprissa	0–1	0–1

Saprissa won the series, but later withdrew.

Saprissa v Alajuelense

21 November 1973	Saprissa	1–0	Alajuelense
	TBD		Nil

Alajuelense v Saprissa

5 December 1973	Alajuelense	0–1 (0–2 agg.)	Saprissa	Alajuela, Costa Rica
	Nil		TBD	Stadium: Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium

Caribbean Zone

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Robinhood	2–4	Jong Colombia	2–3	0–1
Transvaal	14–0	Universidad Católica	8–0	6–0
Devonshire Colts	6–5	North Village CC	3–1	3–4

Bye: S.V. SUBT

Robinhood v Jong Colombia

29 June 1973	Robinhood	2–3	Jong Colombia

Jong Colombia v Robinhood

15 July 1973	Jong Colombia	0–1 (2–4 agg.)	Robinhood
	Nil

Transvaal v Universidad Católica

24 June 1973	Transvaal	8–0	Universidad Católica	Paramaribo’s National Stadion
	Edwin Schal Theo Klein Musanto Corte Nortan Own goal		Nil

Universidad Católica v Transvaal

28 June 1973	Universidad Católica	0–6 (0–14 agg.)	Transvaal	Paramaribo’s National Stadion
	Nil		Edwin Schal Klein Hedley Del Prado

Devonshire Colts v North Village CC

1 June 1973	Devonshire Colts	3–1	North Village CC

North Village CC v Devonshire Colts

24 June 1973	North Village CC	4–3 (5–6 agg.)	Devonshire Colts

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
SUBT	3–9	Transvaal	2–5	1–4
Jong Colombia	w/o1	Devonshire Colts

¹ Devonshire Colts withdrew.

• Transvaal and Jong Colombia advance to the third round.

SUBT v Transvaal

12 July 1973	SUBT	2–5	Transvaal	Willemstad
			Wiene Schal Humphrey Castillion Theo Klein Wesley Bundel

Transvaal v SUBT

	Transvaal	4–1 (9–3 agg.)	SUBT
	Wiene Schal Humphrey Castillion Theo Klein Vanenburg

Third round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Transvaal	4–2	Jong Colombia	2–1	2–1

Transvaal v Jong Colombia

	Transvaal	2–1	Jong Colombia
	TBD TBD		TBD

Jong Colombia v Transvaal

4 August 1973	Jong Colombia	1–2 (2–4 agg.)	Transvaal
	TBD		George Headley Edwin Schal

Fourth round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Transvaal	7–3	Devonshire Colts	4–2	3–1

¹ Devonshire Colts were reinstated as all other clubs from the Central Zone withdrew, since the Northern Zone had been cancelled due to no clubs having entered.

Transvaal v Devonshire Colts

8 January 1974	Transvaal	4–2	Devonshire Colts
	Wiene Schal Wensley Bundel Theo Klein Humphrey Castillion		Lambert Darrel

Transvaal v Devonshire Colts

10 January 1974	Transvaal	3–1 (7–3 agg.)	Devonshire Colts
	Theo Klein Wiene Schal Roy Vanenburg		Lambert

CONCACAF final round

The final was scratched and Transvaal. winners of the Caribbean Zone, were declared CONCACAF Champions in that Central American finalist Saprissa had withdrawn after 15 December 1973.

Champion

CONCACAF Champions' Cup 1973 champions
Transvaal First title

References