A History of the Gold Cup

A time of change for Football in the Americas continues with the 15th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup which, while primarily hosted by the USA, will also see games take place in Costa Rica and Jamaica for the first time.

The tournament will see the continental heavyweights in Mexico, Costa Rica and the USA lock horns with Central American powers in Honduras and Panama, Caribbean top dogs in Jamaica and Haiti and a host of rising powers such as Curacao, Canada, Martinique and, for the very first time, Bermuda and Guyana as the tournament expands from 12 to 16 teams, also for the first time.

The tournament previously saw life as the Concacaf Championship, a tournament that started out as a group stage competition, then featured every four years as a means for Concacaf nations to qualify for the World Cup.

The Gold Cup grew out of this competition and has been held bi-annually since 1991, almost exclusively hosted by the USA, owing to the number of suitable venues and populations of the competing nations that live in the USA.

Only three nations have won the competition since its inception, with the USA and Mexico the dominant forces and Canada the only nation to break the duopoly, but the established order has been challenged over the years, with Jamaica and Panama amongst those who have made the final.

The tournament has evolved from a small competition that required guest nations to fill up tournament spaces to an important part of the CONCACAF competition framework and, with the Nations League due to start in 2019, this could be the time for a new name to appear on the trophy.

Soldier Field in Chicago on 7th July awaits for the two finalists

Click on the links below to read a tournament by tournament history

Gold Cup 1991

Gold Cup 1993

Gold Cup 1996

Gold Cup 1998

Gold Cup 2000

Gold Cup 2002

Gold Cup 2003

Gold Cup 2005

Gold Cup 2007

Gold Cup 2009

Gold Cup 2011

Gold Cup 2013

Gold Cup 2015

Gold Cup 2017

 

 

 

Grp AWDLFAPts
Mexico3001339
Canada2011236
Martinique102573
Cuba0030170
Grp BWDLFAPts
Haiti300629
Costa Rica201536
Bermuda102443
Nicaragua003080
Grp CWDLFAPts
Jamaica120435
Curaçao111224
El Salvador111174
Honduras102643
Grp DWDLFAPts
United States3001109
Panama201636
Guyana012391
Trinidad and Tobago012191

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