SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica (Tues., Feb. 18, 2025) – Real Salt Lake (16-7-11, 59 points, 3rd West MLS in 2024) kicks off its 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup tournament Wednesday at Costa Rican Apertura champions CS Herediano (whose championship-winning coach, Jafet Soto, played for RSL in 2006 and now serves as Sporting Director) with a 4:30p MT kickoff at Estadio Nacional in the Costa Rican capitol city of San José, where the clubs met previously during the 2012 group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League.
RSL’s 4:30p MT kickoff on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at Herediano is available via the CONCACAF YouTube page and the VIX streaming service, with announcers TBD. Download the Club’s Game Notes HERE.
Following Wednesday’s CCC opener, RSL will matriculate to San Jose, Calif., where the Claret-and-Cobalt will commence its 21st Major League Soccer season on Saturday, Feb. 22 against the Earthquakes at PayPal Park, squaring off against iconic American manager Bruce Arena and former RSL striker Cristian Arango. Saturday night’s 8:30p MT kickoff is available via Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass, with Mark Rogondino & Heath Pearce (ENG) on the call, as are Carlos Mauricio Ramirez & Francisco Pinto (SPN).
Now, RSL returns to continental competition for the first time since 2016, when it lost to Liga MX power Tigres at the Quarterfinal stage. This 2025 foray marks RSL’s fourth CONCACAF Champions run, the most successful of which came in the 2010/11 seasons, when the Claret-and-Cobalt became the first-ever USA / MLS side to win its group stage, advanced to the Final against Monterrey, ultimately losing 2-3 on aggregate in a two-legged affair to Mexican power Monterrey with an historic 0-1 home loss at what was then known as Rio Tinto Stadium, in one of the Sandy venue’s most memorable moments.
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 Costa Rican National Stadium, 0-1, in a match marred by a Nat Borchers red card. After two wins against Tauro FC home and away, RSL needed a win to advance in the fourth and final group stage match against Herediano, instead suffering a scoreless draw as the Claret-and-Cobalt, without injured 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), including a home mark of 8-1-2 (the lone home loss coming in the 2010/11 final to Monterrey).
2025 CONCACAF CHAMPIONS CUP – FIRST ROUND
REAL SALT LAKE (18) v. HEREDIANO (47) – 180’ Aggregate Goals, Away Goal Tiebreaker
Game One – Wednesday, February 19 – 4:30p MT @ Estadio Nacional – San José, Costa Rica
Game Two – Wednesday, February 26 – 6:30p MT @ America First Field – Sandy, Utah, USA
(Winner hosts LA Galaxy on Wed., March 5, traveling to Carson, CA on Wed., March 12)
Following this week’s travels to each of the major North American San Jose metropolises, RSL will host the return leg against Herediano next Wednesday, Feb. 26 at America First Field (6:30 p.m. MT kickoff) in Sandy, where RSL posted an impressively dominant 12-3-5 / 40-point mark across all competitions last season. Tickets to what will be RSL’s 35thinternational match in 21 years on Utah soil (17W-10L-7T) are NOW AVAILABLE at www.RSL.com/tickets.
Real Salt Lake arrived late Monday in San José, Costa Rica, returning nearly 23,000 minutes played from last year’s roster and looking to build upon a record-setting 2024 campaign, as last year saw RSL advance to the MLS Cup Playoffs for a fourth consecutive occasion, the sixth time in seven seasons (2020 the lone exception), and for the 14th time in the last 17 seasons since first qualifying in 2008 (2015, 2017 the other outliers). The 2024 MLS regular season reached an all-time high of 59 points for RSL, which finished third in the Western Conference and sixth overall in the 29-team MLS shield race, while also establishing a new all-time scoring high of 65 goals.
RSL’s last MLS reg. season road match was October 5, 2024, in a tense, 1-0 victory at San Jose – with a Diego Lunagame-winner and the Club’s ninth clean sheet of the reg. season – improving RSL’s 2024 road record to 5-4-8 / 23 points, allowing Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s side to accrue its second-highest road point total in 20 MLS seasons, trailing only the 28-point mark amassed in 2023.
A year ago, RSL lost just three home games across all competitions and returning its Sandy venue to its fortress-like home once again, while the Utah side’s 2024 road record – with 14 away results from a 5W-5L-9T record – was second only to the new standard achieved in 2023 (11-7-5 / 38 points all competitions).
RSL opens 2025 seeking a fifth consecutive MLS postseason berth, and its seventh in the last eight years, on top of a highly-anticipated CONCACAF Champions Cup run, RSL’s fourth-ever continental opportunity and its first participation in the competition involving North American, Caribbean and Central American club teams since 2016.
Tickets and information for both competitions can be accessed at www.RSL.com/tickets.
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