The Red Bulls won’t be playing CD Olimpia in Honduras in the CONCACAF Champions League.
Instead, they will meet their Round of 16 foes in San Jose, Costa Rica.
CONCACAF announced Monday the approval of site change requests made by FC Motagua and Olimpia, relocating their home legs in the competition.
Following the approval of the CONCACAF Council to move the matches and an approval process for the alternate sites and stadiums as submitted to CONCACAF by the clubs, FC Motagua will host Liga MX side Club Tijuana at the HEB Park, in Edinburg, Texas, on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 10 p.m. ET.
The next day, Thursday, Feb. 22, Olimpia will face the Red Bulls at Estadio Nacional in San Jose, Costa Rica. That match will kick off at 10 p.m. ET behind closed doors, as part of an on-going sanction against the club levied during the 2017 CONCACAF League.
The two matches have been moved from Honduras due to the political and social situation that has affected the country in recent months. The schedule for the second leg matches to be played at Estadio Caliente in Tijuana, Mexico and the Red Bull Arena (March 1 is the second leg) remains as previously announced.
The requests to move the matches, made by each club, were approved by the CONCACAF Council as per section XVII. A. of the 2018 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League regulations, which deals with cases of force majeure.
As per the Council decision, should either Honduran club advance to the quarterfinals of the CCL, those matches would also be played outside Honduras, allowing time for the situation in that nation to stabilize.
