I'm sure there are some of you out there who keep asking...what is CONCACAF Champions League?
Well, I'm going to go through a quick down and dirty on what it is...
In simple terms, the Champions League is for professional clubs what the World Cup is for countries. Top cubs from every country meet in regional tournaments, such as the CONCACAF and EUFA (European) Champions Leagues, to decide a regional titlist, with those winners meeting at the FIFA Club World Cup (Japan is next year's destination, for which RSL is eligible) to see which club is the best in the world.
Yes, the entire world.
For our region, Real Salt Lake plays in the CONCACAF Champions League. A total of 24 teams from North and Central America and the Caribbean duke it out in the three stages-Preliminary Round (late July/early August, 2010), the Group Stage (mid-August to late October, 2010), and the Championship Round (late February to early April, 2011)-to see who moves on to Japan in 2011. Due to winning MLS Cup 2009, RSL skips straight to the 16-team Group Stage.
There you have it in a nutshell. RSL is playing host in the Group A Stage round against the 2009/10 Panamanian Champions, Arabe Unido, at Rio Tinto tonight. Come out and support our team.