MONTREAL--The Montreal Impact were given a favorable draw in their return to the CONCACAF Champions League for the first time in four years.

The Eastern Conference’s top team will play in Group 5 against fellow Major League Soccer club San Jose Earthquakes and a team from Guatemala, which is to be determined.

“We feel good about the draw,” Impact sporting director Nick De Santis said. “We’ve played San Jose before and done well against them at home and on the road. We know we’ll play one of the better Guatemalan teams on a difficult trip, but with all the experience on our team, we know we can be successful.”

The Impact qualified for the Champions League by beating the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Amway Canadian Championship final series. Montreal returns to the competition after reaching the 2008-09 quarterfinals, where it fell to Santos of Mexico 5-4 on aggregate.

Mexico’s Monterrey had won the previous three editions of the CONCACAF Champions League but did not qualify this time around.

THe schedule of games will be released at a later date.

The Groups for the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League:

Group 1: Arabe Unido (Panama), Houston Dynamo (United States), DirecTV W Connection (Trinidad & Tobago)

Group 2: Olimpia (Honduras), Sporting Kansas City (United States), Real Esteli (Nicaragua)

Group 3: Herediano (Costa Rica), Cruz Azul (Mexico), Valencia FC (Haiti)

Group 4: Club America (Mexico), Alajuelense (Costa Rica), Sporting San Miguelito (Panama)

Group 5: San Jose Earthquakes (United States), Montreal Impact (Canada), Guatemala (TBD)

Group 6: Comunicaciones (Guatemala), Toluca (Mexico), Caledonia AIA (Trinidad & Tobago)

Group 7: Club Tijuana (Mexico), Victoria (Honduras), Luis Angel Firpo (El Salvador)

Group 8: LA Galaxy (United States), Isidro Metapan (El Salvador), Cartagines (Costa Rica)