Mzansi pair to feature in Concacaf Champions Cup

The South African pair of coach Bradley Carnell and defender Olwethu Makhanya can look forward to international action next year and a chance to qualify for the Club World Cup after Philadelphia Union discovered their early pathway at Tuesday’s Concacaf Champions Cup draw.

Philadelphia will begin their Champions Cup run against Defence Force of Trinidad and Tobago in the first round, playing away in the first leg before returning home for the return.

The dates for the two ties will be announced by Concacaf in the near future but will be sometime in February.

The winner of the tie is then pitted against the winner of the tie between Mexico’s Club América and CD Olimpia from Honduras in the round of 16 in March.

Union qualified as one of eight US clubs in the competition, which is played in a direct elimination knockout stage format and is composed of five rounds: round one, round of 16, quarterfinals in April, semifinals in April and May, and final.

The first four stages each are played over two legs home and away, while the final, where the Concacaf champion will be crowned, is a single match on May 30.

The winner will go to the 2029 Club World Cup as one of four Concacaf representatives, joining this year’s winner Cruz Azul of Mexico plus the clubs that win in 2027 and 2028.

It will be the fourth time that Philadelphia competes in the Champions Cup. They have reached the semifinals twice in 2020 and 2022.

Carnell has coached in the Concacaf Champions Cup before with St. Louis City in 2024 but went out in the first round to Houston Dynamo in an all-MLS tie on the away goal rule.