World over, regional soccer bodies organise tournaments where nations compete for the chance to become undisputed regional champions. For North America, Central America and the Caribbean, the regional tournament specifically designed for all nations is the CONCACAF Gold Cup. this tournament has gradually seen its popularity increase on the world stage and now, whenever the tournament starts, millions of people follow the proceedings via the TV as well as online streaming platforms. See also the Nations League and Concacaf Champions League
A Brief History of the Gold Cup
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) was founded in 1961. CONCACAF emerged after the amalgamation of the Cofederacion Centroamericana y del Caribe de Futbol (CCCF) and the North American Football Confederation (NAFC). Before the emergence of CONCACAF, the CCCF and the NAFC were responsible for organising regional football tournaments albeit at a smaller scale. The emergence of CONCACAF however changed that as for the first time, there were concerted efforts to organise a pure regional tournament in which all nations could compete at a single event.
The regional soccer tournament which was organised by CONCACAF in 1961 ran under the name CONCACAF Campeonato de Naciones or simply CONCACAF Championship. The inaugural CONCACAF Championship tournament was held in 1963 in El Salvador and Costa Rica emerged as the winners.
The CONCACAF Championship’s reputation was significantly boosted when FIFA announced that the winners of the tournament would receive automatic entry into the World Cup in 1974. That year, Haiti pulled off one of the biggest shocks in world soccer when it won the tournament and hence qualified for the FIFA World Cup 1974 spectacle.
In 1990, the CONCACAF Championship was rebranded and renamed the CONCACAF Gold Cup. the United States hosted the inaugural CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament and went all the way to win it. Mexico will then take control of the proceedings as it accumulated 9 titles since then.
The organisers of the CONCACAF Gold Cup invited guest nations from beyond the CONCACAF region to participate in the tournament. Qatar is the most recent guest nation to play at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Gold Cup Format
Over the years, the number of teams participating in the CONCACAF Gold Cup as well as the format used varied. For the most part, however, a knockout round of grouped teams was the favoured system. Depending on the number of competing teams, either the winners of the group only or a combination of the group winners and best runners-up would qualify for the next round.
The current format being used is that of the knockout round which consists of 4 groups of 4 teams in each group. The winners of the groups as well as the runners up proceed to the next round. From there, the teams play a one-legged tie until the Finals. The home and away teams are picked randomly when the draws are made.
Gold Cup Schedule
The CONCACAF Gold Cup is held after every 2 years. In a couple of years, before the main tournament is played, qualifying matches are played by all the CONCACAF nations. The nations are put into different groups and the top teams qualify for the tournament. Typically, the CONCACAF Gold Cup is played in June-July. The 2023 Gold Cup was jointly hosted by the United States and Canada.
Gold Cup Prizes
The teams that reach the Gold Cup Final will compete for the chance to claim bragging rights as the regional champions as well as receive the associated monetary rewards. Consolation prizes are awarded for the teams that reach the latter stages of the tournament while appearance fees are also paid to all teams that qualified and fulfilled their matches at the tournament.
Besides the overall monetary prizes, a whole host of other rewards are also awarded. These are awarded per category and the categories available are as follows:
- Best Player Award
- Top Goal scorer Award
- Best Goalkeeper Award
- Best Young Player Award
- Team of the Tournament (top players per position assembled from different participating teams)
- Goal of the Tournament Award
- Fair Play Award
Top Teams in the Gold Cup
Mexico is undoubtedly the leading nation in the CONCACAF Gold Cup Mexico has won the tournament a record 9 times. The United States comes in second place having won the tournament on 7 occasions. Canada is the only other team to have won the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
All the teams that contest to play at the CONCACAF Gold Cup starting from the qualifying round include Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominion Republic, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos islands, United States and U.S. Virgin Islands.
Gold Cup Interesting Facts
- Only 3 nations (Mexico, Canada and the United States) have won the CONCACAF Gold Cup since its inception with Mexico leading the way with 9 titles
- Since the inaugural CONCACAF Gold Cup in 1991, the United States has either hosted (individually) or co-hosted the tournament
- While CONCACAF has invited guest nations to play at the Gold Cup since 1996, it hasn’t invited a single European nation. CONCACAF has only invited nations from CONMEBOL, AFC, and CAF
- CONCACAF broadcasts Gold Cup matches on YouTube free of charge (albeit with some geo-restrictions).