Concacaf announced on Tuesday further details for the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup, which will feature Canadian Premier League sides Cavalry FC and Forge FC.

The tournament, formerly known as the Concacaf Champions League, will feature 27 clubs from across North and Central America and the Caribbean, competing for the prestigious honour as the region’s top club.

The draw will be conducted on Dec. 13, 2023, with the tournament to begin in early February 2024. All 27 teams will be placed in an elimination bracket, with five sides receiving byes directly to the round of 16. Each knockout tie will be two-legged except for the Final, which will be one match.

Cavalry and Forge qualified as the CPL’s two entrants, by virtue of Cavalry winning the regular season title and Forge finishing second — since those two sides also advanced to the CPL Final, no other side is able to win the playoff championship and thus qualify.

Both the CPL teams will enter in the first round, where they could be drawn against teams from Major League Soccer, Liga MX, or Concacaf’s Central American or Caribbean championship tournaments. The draw has several nuances, with five teams (the champions of MLS Cup, the Leagues Cup, the Central American Cup, the Caribbean Cup and the highest-ranked Liga MX champion) going directly to the round of 16.

The remaining teams will be seeded into two pots for the first round draw, with the top three sides based on Concacaf Club Rankings placed in specific positions to ensure they would not play a team that received a bye in the round of 16.

The tentative schedule of matches is as follows:

Round One: February 6-8 (Week 1), 13-15 (Week 2), 20-22 (Week 3) and 27-29 (Week 4)
Round of 16: March 5-7 (First Legs) and 12-14 (Second Legs)
Quarterfinals: April 2-4 (First Legs) and 9-11 (Second Legs)
Semifinals: April 23-25 (First Legs) and April 30 – May 2 (Second Legs)
Final: June 2 (Single Leg)

Twenty-one teams have already qualified for the tournament, including the likes of Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami and Mexican giants Club América and Chivas Guadalajara, as well as Canadian Championship winners Vancouver Whitecaps.

More info on the draw process is available here.