Dynamo bidding to enter World Cup tourney with Man City, PSG, Bayern already in
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Houston Dynamo FC was one win shy of another MLS Cup Final, but don't forget - they earned the 2023 U.S. Open Cup this past season.
Thanks to that tournament victory, the Dynamo will enter the 27-club Concacaf Champions Cup with a bid to the more significant FIFA Club World Cup on the line for the winner.
On Monday, the club announced it will face off with fellow MLS entrant St. Louis SC, which earned the Western Conference's best record in 2023, for two first-round matches on Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 27 at 9:30 p.m. St. Louis will host the Dynamo for the first leg, while the second leg will be in Houston's Shell Energy Stadium. The winner will be determined by aggregate goals scored between the two matches.
The Houston-St. Louis winner will face off in the next round with the Columbus Crew, who earned a bye into the round of 16 by winning the MLS Cup.
So, what's significant about this tourney? The event dates back 59 years prior with a field of club teams from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Carribean, and Central America. This marks one of the few times the Dynamo faces international competition outside of exhibition matches, or friendlies.
There's also an entry at stake into a much bigger tournament, the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, which fields clubs instead of nations from the winners of different regional federations around the globe. That means rubbing shoulders with top-tier international clubs like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, and others.
The 2025 event will be held on U.S. soil, a year before the 2026 FIFA World Cup unfolds.
Houston will enter its eighth CONCACAF Champions Cup, with its last showing in 2019 when it was in the final eight.
Ticket information was not yet announced.
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