TheCONCACAF Gold Cup (Spanish:Copa Oro CONCACAF) is anassociation football competition organized byCONCACAF as its premier continental tournament for men's senior national teams fromNorth America,Central America and theCaribbean. The tournament is held every two years with its inaugural edition in 1991.[1] It is the direct successor competition of theCONCACAF Championship (1963–1989).
Association football in the continent was divided into two regional confederations, which were the two predecessor confederations of CONCACAF before its founding in 1961. The two governing bodies consisted of theConfederación Centroamericana y del Caribe de Fútbol (CCCF) founded in 1938 as the former governing body of football inCentral America andCaribbean, and theNorth American Football Confederation (NAFC) founded in 1946 as the former governing body of football inNorth America (United States, Mexico, Canada, and Cuba). Each confederation held its own premier regional competition for senior national teams.TheCCCF Championship was held 10 times, from 1941 to 1961 with Costa Rica winning seven titles, and also El Salvador, Haiti and Panama winning one title each.TheNAFC Championship was held twice (1947 and 1949) with Mexico winning both titles.[3]
CONCACAF was founded in 1961 through the merging of NAFC and CCCF which resulted in a single championship being held for the continent. The first CONCACAF tournament was held in 1963 in El Salvador with Costa Rica becoming the first champion. The CONCACAF Campeonato de Naciones, as it was called, was held every two years from 1963 to 1973. The second tournament was held in Guatemala in 1965 when Mexico defeated the host country in the final of a six-team tournament. The 1967 competition was held in Honduras and saw a third champion crowned, Guatemala. Costa Rica won their second title as hosts in 1969, knocking off Guatemala, while two years later, Mexico won their second championship as the tournament moved to Trinidad and Tobago, the first time in the Caribbean. In 1973, the tournament kept the same format of six teams playing a single round-robin, but there were bigger stakes attached: CONCACAF's berth in theFIFA World Cup tournament in 1974. In Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the host country pulled off an upset by winning the tournament and claiming a spot in the World Cup in West Germany.
With the Campeonato de Naciones doubling as the final World Cup qualifying tournament, the next two editions were held in Mexico City and Tegucigalpa, Honduras in 1977 and 1981, respectively. In each case the host country was crowned champion and earned a spot in the World Cup. In 1985 and 1989, the winner of the World Cup qualifying tournament was again crowned Confederation champion. Canada and Costa Rica were named champions in 1985 and 1989, receiving a trophy.[4][better source needed]
In 1990, CONCACAF renamed and restructured the CONCACAF Championship as the CONCACAF Gold Cup, with theUnited States hosting the first competition in1991, and hosting or co-hosting every subsequent iteration of the tournament (as of 2025). The host country was the inaugural champion of the eight-team tournament. Mexico dominated the remainder of the decade, winning three consecutive CONCACAF Gold Cup titles in1993,1996 and1998.
In 1996, the Gold Cup field included its first guest team, the defending FIFA World Cup Champions Brazil. Guests were invited to participate in the six Gold Cup tournaments from 1996 to 2005. Starting with the2000 Gold Cup, the tournament field was increased to twelve teams and for the 2007 tournament, the Gold Cup again was contested exclusively by nations within CONCACAF.
The2007 Gold Cuphosts successfully defended their title beating Mexico in the final 2–1 inChicago; Canada andGuadeloupe shared third place. Mexico won the2009 Gold Cup by beating the United States 5–0. In the2011 Gold Cup, Mexico defeated the USA 4–2 in the final while the USA won the2013 Gold Cup by beating Panama 1–0.
Since the formation of the Gold Cup in 1991, the CONCACAF Championship has been won nine times by Mexico, seven times by the United States, and once by Canada. Runners-up include Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, and Jamaica.
Before 2015, when the Gold Cup did not fall in the same year as theFIFA Confederations Cup, the winner, or highest-placed team that is a member of both CONCACAF and FIFA, qualified for the next staging of that tournament. In 2015, the winners of the previous two Gold Cups (the 2013 and 2015 editions) faced each other inCONCACAF Cup – a playoff to determine the CONCACAF entrant to the2017 Confederations Cup.[5][6]
In January 2017,Victor Montagliani announced the expansion of the Gold Cup from 12 to 16 teams, starting with the 2019 tournament.[7] In November 2018, Costa Rica was announced as one of the hosts of the 2019 tournament, with a group B double-header set to be held at theEstadio Nacional.[8] In April 2019, it was announced that Jamaica would host a doubleheader in group C atIndependence Park.[9]
The number of teams in the final tournament has gradually increased over the years. Each tournament has consisted of around-robin group stage followed by asingle-elimination knockout stage.
In the2025 Gold Cup edition the extra time rule was abandoned, except for the final. When there is a draw it will go straight to apenalty shoot out.[10]
There has been interest from numerous sources to have the tournament held every four years to potentially increase the prestige, decrease player fatigue and better align with the European and South American calendars.[11][12]
Year
Teams
Matches
Group stage
Final stages
1991–1993
8
16
2 groups of 4 teams
4-team knockout (group winners and runners-up)
1996
9
13
3 groups of 3 teams
4-team knockout (group winners plus best runner-up)
1998
10
16
3 groups of 3 or 4 teams
2000
12
19
4 groups of 3 teams
8-team knockout (group winners and runners-up)
2002–2003
20
2005–2013
25
3 groups of 4 teams
8-team knockout (group winners and runners-up, plus 2 best 3rd-placed teams)
As of 2025, a total of 33 teams have participated in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Italicized teams in the table below are not members of CONCACAF; eight such nations have participated.
The1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the first iteration to have a guest from a different confederation,Brazil fromCONMEBOL. In spite of bringing theirunder-23 team, Brazil finished asrunners-up toMexico and outplaced seven teams from CONCACAF.[16] For the next decade, six countries from three confederations would make appearances in the Gold Cup, with seven of the eleven appearances finishing within the top four. Starting in2007, CONCACAF would no longer invite guests from other confederations. This is primarily due to giving more opportunities from teams in the region to compete, as there was a rise in performances from the region hinted by theFIFA World Ranking.[17][18]
After a 16-year hiatus from guest nations,Qatar were invited and participated in the2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, losing in the semi-finals to the United States. Qatar also participated in the2023 Gold Cup, where they lost 4–0 toPanama in the quarter-finals.[19]
In Canada,OneSoccer streams all Gold Cup matches, while select matches also air onTSN andRDS through a co-production partnership. Spanish-language rights are sublicensed toTLN andUnivision.[21] In Mexico it airs onTelevisa andTV Azteca. In the United States, the CONCACAF Gold Cup airs onFox Sports andTUDN (since 2000). CONCACAF also streams Gold Cup matches on YouTube with some geo-restrictions.
The Gold Cup trophy is awarded to the champions of the tournament. The design of the trophy has changed multiple times since its inaugural version. Changes include scaling down of the size as well as replacing the original flat rectangular base with an elevated round pedestal. The base includes engravings of the champion nation with the year in which they won the trophy.
