WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- North and Central American soccer teams are set to play in a European-style Champions League from August, the region's governing body CONCACAF said on Monday.

The 24-team CONCACAF Champions League will replace the old eight-team, straight knockout Champions Cup.

The league will feature four teams from Mexico and the United States, 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.

The last Champions Cup final will be held over two legs later this year before the region switches to the new format.