MIAMI / SANDY, Utah (Fri., December 13, 2024) – Real Salt Lake (16-7-11, 59 points, 3rd West MLS 2024) today finalized the dates and times for its path to the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup, drawn against Costa Rican side CS Herediano in the two-game, home-and-away First-Round series. RSL will travel to Costa Rica for Leg One on Wednesday, Feb. 19, with the return match at America First Field in Sandy on Wednesday, Feb. 26, with a 6:30p MT kickoff.
Season tickets to RSL’s home matches for its 2025 season – the Claret-and-Cobalt’s 21st MLS campaign – are NOW AVAILABLE at www.RSL.com/tickets.
Real Salt Lake previously faced Herediano during the group stage of the 2012 CONCACAF Champions League tourney, the teams grouped alongside Panama’s Tauro FC. RSL fell 0-1 away at Herediano in the San Jose-based National Stadium, 0-1, in a match marred by a Nat Borchers red card. After two wins against Tauro home and away, that 2012 RSL side needed a win to advance in the fourth and final group stage match against Herediano, instead suffering a scoreless draw as the Utah side, without star striker Alvaro Saborio, were unable to score and support a clean sheet from GK Nick Rimando in a 0-0 result.
All-time, RSL’s record in CONCACAF Champions League games is 11-5-6 (W-L-T, outscoring opponents 34-22), including a home mark of 8-1-2 (aggregate goal advantage of 21-7, with the lone loss coming in the 2010/11 final to Monterrey). In 2024, RSL posted an overall 17-9-13 (W-L-T) record across multiple competitions, also earning a berth in this 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup, the Claret-and-Cobalt’s first foray in continental competition since the 2015/16 CCL run to the quarterfinals, where it was eliminated by Liga MX power Tigres by a 3-1 aggregate over two legs.
The late-February 2025 kickoff at America First Field will be RSL’s earliest since its 2010/11 foray into CONCACAF Champions League, where RSL advanced all the way to the Final, dropping the two-legged affair to Mexican power Monterrey on a 2-1 aggregate scoreline, with an 0-1 loss at what was known as Rio Tinto Stadium in one of the Sandy venue’s all-time most memorable moments.
This past year, RSL posted a dominant 12-3-3 / 39-point mark across all competitions at the 16-year-old venue, outscoring visitors 40-21 overall.
CONCACAF conducted the competition’s Official Draw Tuesday night, setting the matchups and bracket for the region’s premier international tournament, which features 27 clubs across North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The 2025 CCC Champion, to be crowned in a single-elimination final on June 1, will receive a berth in the 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup and 2029 FIFA Club World Cup, along with over $5 million in financial distributions and prize money.
Round One will be played in February, 2025, with the winner between Real Salt Lake and CS Herediano based on aggregate score after two legs advancing to face MLS Cup 2024 Champion LA Galaxy in the Round of 16, which will begin on Wednesday, March 5 – potentially at America First Field. The Round of 16 series between RSL/Herediano and the Galaxy would conclude at Dignity Health Sports Park on Wednesday, March 12.
2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup Schedule (subject to change)
Round One (two legs): Feb. 19 (away at Herediano) + Feb. 26 (home at America First Field)
Round of 16 (two legs): March 5 (RSL / Herediano winner to host) + March 12 (at LA Galaxy)
Quarterfinals (two legs): April 1-3 + April 8-10
Semifinals (two legs): April 22-24 + April 29 - May 1
Final (one leg): Sunday, June 1
Tickets for Real Salt Lake’s home match against CS Herediano in Round One of the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup will go on sale via SeatGeek in the coming days and weeks. Season Ticket Member seat locations are secured through their Right of First Refusal membership benefit and Season Ticket Members will have a deadline to opt out of receiving tickets at the reduced STM rate for the highly anticipated season opener.
Competing in the CONCACAF Champions Cup for a fourth time in club history and Ranked No. 18 in the CONCACAF Club Ranking Index, Real Salt Lake qualified for the 60th edition of the Confederation’s annual club championship as one of five MLS regular-season standings qualifiers.
RSL in CONCACAF Champions Cup
2010-11: Won Group, Advanced to Finals
2012-13: Eliminated in Group Stage
2015-16: Won Group, Advanced to Quarterfinals
2025: Round One in February
In preparation for the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup and the Major League Soccer campaign – with opening weekend set for Feb. 22-23 – Real Salt Lake will begin the Club’s upcoming preseason on Jan. 11, when players report to Salt Lake City for entrance physicals, testing and meetings. The team will then travel to California for two stints, the first from Jan. 23-30 and a second from Feb. 3-13 for preseason trainings and matches.
During the 2024 season, RSL Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s team established a new Club all-time single-season points record (59), its best in 20 seasons, and also clinched a return to the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup with a Decision Day 2-1, come-from-behind victory over Vancouver. RSL All-Star and eventual 2024 MLS Young Player of the Year MF Diego Luna scored his eighth goal of the season on a 73rd-minute equalizer, just 10 minutes before Luna set up DF Alex Katranis for what ended up being an 83rd-minute game-winner on the Vancouver goalkeeper’s own goal.
America First Field in Sandy is where the Claret-and-Cobalt excelled in the most recent season, with 11 wins and three draws against just three losses in MLS action, in addition to a 12th home win in last August’s Leagues Cup tourney over LIGA MX power Atlas FC.
Despite an active eight-game unbeaten run, RSL was eliminated via the penalty-kick tiebreaker for a third consecutive season after advancing into the postseason for the 14th time in the last 17 seasons, and for the fourth consecutive year under the guidance of Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni, who has improved the point totals and seeding in each of his four seasons. The 2024 campaign represents RSL’s eighth 50-point season in Club history – and its first since 2019 – with the 2024 edition of the Claret-and-Cobalt looking to return to the West Final for the first time since 2021.
The Oct. 5 victory at San Jose – with a Luna game-winner and the Club’s ninth clean sheet of the season – improved RSL’s 2024 road record to 5-4-8 / 23 points, allowing RSL to accrue its second-highest road point total in 20 MLS seasons, trailing only last year’s 28-point mark.
In addition to the 2024 season’s 59-point total eclipsing the 57 points accrued in the 2012 season, the 16th win in 34 games matches the Club’s second-highest win total in its 20 MLS campaigns (2013, 2019), trailing only the 17 won in 2012.
This most recent campaign was also the highest-scoring season in Real Salt Lake’s 20 MLS years, with 65 goals through 34 matches, eclipsing the 57 scored in 2013. RSL’s pair of goals scored on Decision Day enabled the 2024 side to match the all-time Club mark of 38 goals on home soil, matching the 2018 season’s production in Sandy.
Key 2024/25 MLS Offseason Dates & Roster Mechanisms:
(Dates, Times [MT] – Subject to Change)
- Fri., Dec. 13 – Re-Entry Process, Stage One (11a MT)
- Thu., Dec. 19 – 2025 MLS Schedule Unveiled for all 30 teams (TBD)
- Thu., Dec. 19 – Re-Entry Process, Stage Two (11a MT)
- Fri., Dec. 20 – 2025 MLS SuperDraft (12 noon MT)
- Sat./Mon., Jan. 11-13 – 2025 RSL Preseason Begins
- Thu., Jan. 23 – depart for Preseason Trip #1 – Santa Barbara, Calif.
Game #1 – Sat., Jan. 25
Game #2 – Wed., Jan, 29
- Thu., Jan. 30 – return from Preseason Trip #1 – Santa Barbara, Calif.
- Mon., Feb. 3 – depart for Preseason Trip #2 – Indio, Calif.
Game #3 – Wed., Feb. 5
Game #4 – Sat., Feb. 8
Game #5 – Wed., Feb. 12
- Thu., Feb. 13 – return from Preseason Trip #2 – Indio, Calif.
- Wed., Feb. 19 – 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup Leg One – RSL @ Herediano
- Sat./Sun., Feb. 22-23 – 2025 MLS Regular Season // RSL Season #21 Kicks Off
- Wed., Feb. 26 – 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup Leg Two – RSL v Herediano – 6:30p MT – @ America First Field
