January 12 – El Salvador, with a 1-1 draw against Suriname, were the last of the 12 Concacaf nations to secure a slot in the third round of Group qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
The final round 2 group games finished this week with Honduras, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Panama, Jamaica and Suriname topping their groups. Second place finishes and spots in the next round were secured by Bermuda, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The 12 teams now go into the third round draw that will be held today (June 12) in Miami and will create three groups of four teams. They will play double round-robin home-and-away matches, with the three group winners qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
The two best-ranked runners-up will have a further opportunity to qualify via the inter-confederation play-offs. With Canada, Mexico and USA pre-qualified for 2026 as hosts, Concacaf could have up to eight team at the finals next summer.
The third round group qualification matches (six matches for each nation) will be played during the September, October, and November 2025 international windows.
Concacaf’s international match schedule is proceeding at pace. Ten of the 12 qualified teams will compete in the 2025 Gold Cup that kicks off this Saturday at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Seedings and pots for the draw are as follows:
Pot 1(three highest-ranked teams): Panama (1), Costa Rica (2), Jamaica (3)
Pot 2 (next three highest-ranked teams): Honduras (4), El Salvador (5), Curacao (6)
Pot 3 (next three highest-ranked teams): Haiti (7), Trinidad and Tobago (8), Guatemala (9)
Pot 4 (three lowest-ranked teams): Nicaragua (10), Suriname (11), Bermuda (12)
Final Round 2 Group positions:
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