WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- North and Central American soccer governing body told press that a European-style Champions League will be launched from August.

    Twenty-four teams will compete in the CONCACAF Champions League to replace the old straight knockout Champions Cup, which holds eight teams from the region and will play the last final later this year over two legs.

    The new league will feature four teams from Mexico and the U.S. three Caribbean sides, two clubs each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and one representative coming from Canada, Belize, and Nicaragua.

    Eight clubs -- two Mexican, two from the U.S., one each from Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador -- will be seeded and the other 16 teams will play a qualifying round for the group stage of four groups of four.