March 13 – The final and third-placed play-off for this summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup will be played in Philadelphia. The tournament kicks off July 7 in Dallas and travels through 12 North American cities before reaching Philadelphia for the finals weekend on July 25-26.
February 17 – When CONCACAF launched its U15 Boys championship in 2013 with 22 teams, it became the first confederation to hold an U15 championship. In 2014 it broke new confederation ground, hosting an U15 Girls tournament.
January 26 – The steps towards a professional league in the Caribbean took another pace forward with the second meeting of the Caribbean Premier League Task Force which reviewed regional stadium infrastructure study with a view to identifying which countries could host league matches.
January 21 – Beach Soccer fever is building across the CONCACAF region. With a record number of 16 nations heading to El Salvador for the regional championship in March and a Beach Soccer World Cup qualification place at stake, the confederation has unveiled its tournament logo and announced January 27 as the date for the draw.
January 13 – The 2014 World Cup in Brazil is fading into the distance as CONCACAF gathers in Miami, Florida on Thursday, January 15 for the preliminary draw for the qualification rounds for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Games will be played March 23-31.
January 12 – The US appetite for big tournament soccer is growing with 24 cities in 18 states having indicated an interest in hosting matches in the 2016 Centennial Cup America (Copa America Centenario).
December 22 – The Bahamas will become the first Caribbean nation to host a senior FIFA tournament when it welcomes the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
December 17 – Hosts USA, Costa Rica and Mexico have all been seeded for the three group stage of the 2015 Gold Cup which will be played across 13 North American cities, including crossing into Canada for the first time.
December 16 – Play-in series dates for the final 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup berth between French Guyana and Honduras have been set for March next year. The series will provide a fist test for new Honduran coach Jorge Luis Pinto who achieved fame in the Summer with his stewardship of Costa Rica at the world Cup.
By Mark Baber
December 11 – As the final game of Los Angeles Galaxy legend Landon Donovan highlighted the trans-border interests of soccer fans in Mexico and the US, the football ties between the two countries look like deepening with Liga MX officials saying that they are evaluating the possibility of incorporating Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs into the biannual knock-out Copa MX.
November 26 – The reggae beat is pounding out through Jamaican football at the moment. At their home tournament the Reggae Boyz triumphed in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Cup with a penalty shoot-out win over long-time rivals Trinidad and Tobago earlier this month. In January, the Jamaicans kick off the CONCACAF football year with the hosting of the U20 Championships.
By Paul Nicholson
September 29 – After a longer than anticipated wait, the Centennial Cup America has been officially added to the 2016 FIFA events calendar. The dates mean that the oldest international cup competition in the world will overlap with UEFA’s revamped 24-team Euro 2016 championships for 16 days.
By Paul Nicholson in Los Angeles
September 15 – A piece of Central America came to Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday night with the finals of the Central American Cup played out in front of a passionate and vocal Latino crowd approaching 50,000.
September 11 – The race is hotting up in the Caribbean for qualifying places at the CFU Caribbean Cup finals in Jamaica this November. The finals will not only crown the Caribbean champions but will also provide the region’s qualifiers for the CONCACAF 2015 Gold Cup and the 2016 Copa America Centennario, both to be played in the US.
By Paul Nicholson in Miami
December 8 – CONCACAF has completed the final draw for the CONCACAF Women’s Championship 2014. The eight team finals, to be played this October, will not only crown a CONCACAF champion but will also qualify three teams for the finals next year in Canada (Canada qualify automatically as hosts) with a fourth team getting a play-off against the third-placed CONMEBOL team.