The United States was the first to qualify its clubs, determining the first berths in September 2008 when D.C. United won the U.S. Open Cup. The Columbus Crew won the MLS Cup title to take the first direct berth in the Group Stage, and since they also won the Supporters Shield as the team with the most points during the regular season, the team with the second highest point total, the Houston Dynamo, claimed other automatic berth. The MLS Cup runner-up New York Red Bulls claimed one of two Preliminary Round spots along with D.C. United.

In Mexico, 2008 Apertura winner Toluca and 2010 Clausura winner Pumas were awarded direct berths into the Group Stage, while runners-up Cruz Azul and Pachuca earned places in the Preliminary Rounds.

Toronto FC beat Montreal 6:1 in June in the tournament finale to claim the six-week Nutrilite Canadian Championship title over Montreal and the Vancouver Whitecaps, earning MLS a fifth team in the competition.

W Connection of Trinidad won the CFU (Caribbean) Club Champions Cup in May, defeating the Puerto Rico Islanders 2-1, to lead both into the Champions League. San Juan Jabloteh claimed the last of the Caribbean's three berths, beating Tempete FC in the third-place game.

In Central America, Metapan won both the Apertura and Clausra titles in El Salvador while Saprissa, Comunicaciones and Marathon all won one of their countries Apertura split-season titles, and finished with the best overall record over the two split seasons to claim Group Stage berths.

Liberia won the Costa Rican Clausura, Jalapa took the Guatemalan Clausura and Olimpia seized the Honduran Clausura, each claiming their countries' Preliminary Round berths. While Chaltenango was runner-up the Salvadoran Apertura and Firpo second in Clausura, Chalatenango had the better overall record. But it failed to meet tournament requirements by retuning its sign participation agreement, forfeiting its berth to Firpo.

Arabe Unido won the 2008 Clausura and San Francisco FC the 2009 Apertura to earn Panama's berths in the Preliminary Round.

Two berths originally designated for Belize and Nicaragua had to be reassigned, since neither country could meet the requirements of having a stadium that met Champions League standards. Those berths were reallocated based on a co-efficient formula and awarded to Honduras and Costa Rica.

That enabled Real Espana to claim one spot as runner-up in both the Honduran Apertura and Clausura, and similarly for Herediano, who also was a runner-up but had a better overall record than Alajuelense.