The CONCACAF Nations League is a continental soccer league which is contested by all senior men’s national teams in the CONCACAF region. The Nations League matches are played on select dates which are allocated for international friendlies on FIFA’s International Match Calendar. See also the Gold Cup and Concacaf Champions League.
A Brief History of the Nations League
The Nations League is a relatively new soccer competition which started as recently as 2018. The competition is open to all countries in the CONCACAF region. Currently, there are 41 such nations and all of them contest in the competition. The qualifying countries include those in North America, Central America as well as the Caribbean.
The inaugural qualifying round for the tournament ran from September 2018 to March 2019 with the actual tournament taking place in September 2019.
The Nations League was adopted by CONCACAF as a move to eliminate the numerous friendly matches played by national teams during the FIFA-sanctioned international breaks. CONCACAF decided to adopt the Nations League format to ensure that high-level football is played during the international breaks as teams know that excelling when playing Nations League games helps them qualify for the coveted CONCACAF Gold Cup.
CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani said the rationale behind adopting the Nations League format was to also ensure that the smaller nations get the chance to regularly play high-level matches as some of them would only play fewer than 10 international friendlies in a 4-year period.
Nations League Format
The current version of the Nations League uses a 3-tier system. There is tier A, B and C. Inside these tiers are groups of 4 teams each. The grouped teams face each other in a two-legged series played on a home-and-away system.
When all teams have faced against each other in all the tiers, a relegation and promotion phase will ensue. The group winners in tier A are placed in one group and they face each other in a knockout competition. The team that excels will be crowned the Nations League winner. Teams that win their respective groups in Tier B and Tier C will be promoted to the next tier that is, tier A and Tier B respectively.
The lowest-ranked teams in tier A and tier B groups will be relegated to the lower tier. This simply means relegated teams from tier A go to tier B and the relegated teams from tier B move to tier C.
While the above is the current format for the Nations League, proposals to change the format for the 2024 season and onwards have already been accepted. Owing to the proposed changes, there will be no promotions and relegations for the 2022-23 National League season.
Starting in the 2023/24 season, tier A will be increased from 12 teams to 16 teams. The 12 teams which are lowest ranked in the CONCACAF rankings start at the group stage level. The group stage is played using a Swiss system tournament format. The top four teams from each group advance to the Quarter Finals and they are joined by the top four ranked teams. From the Quarter Finals, the successful teams will advance to the Semi-Finals and Finals.
Tier B will remain unchanged while Tier C will see the teams reduced from 13 to 9. The 9 teams will be grouped intothree groups of 3 teams each. Each team will play four matches in a round-robin home and away format.
Promotions and relegations will resume from the 2023/24 season with the 5th and 6th placed teams in Tier A relegated and the 4th placed teams in Tier B also relegated. The group winners from Tier B and Tier C as well as the best-placed team of Tier C are promoted.
Nations League Schedule
The league phase for all the tiers are typically played from September to November. The following year, the Finals of tier A is then played typically in March or June.
Nations League Prizes
The winners of the Nations League finals receive a prestigious trophy. The trophy represents all the 41 CONCACAF nations as its base is engraved with the names of all the countries. The winner of the Final as well as other teams that perform superbly also earn the right to participate at the following COCACAF Gold Cup.
Top Teams in the Nations League
The U.S. has been a dominant force in the early years of the CONCACAF Nations League having won 2 titles. The U.S. is also the defending champions of the CONCACAF Nations League.
All the following 41 nations contesting in the CONCACAF Nations League are 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.
Nations League Interesting Facts
- The Nations League was adopted specifically to maximise the quality, quantity and frequency of competitive matches for all the 41 nations in CONCACAF
- Guatemala missed the inaugural Nations League group phase as it was under a FIFA suspension
- The U.S. has won the most CONCACAF Nations League titles.