History of CONCACAF Gold Cup

Confederation:

CONCACAF

Founded:

1963

Region:

North and Central America

Number of Teams:

Level:

Current champions:

USA

Sponsors:

Official website:

http://www.concacaf.com/competitions/goldcup/index.aspx

History

1 Competition Overview
2 History
3 Trophy
4 Past Winners
- 4.1 Most Successful Teams
5 Important Links
6 References

Competition Overview

The CONCACAF Gold Cup is the main soccer tournament for North American National Football teams. It is overseen by the CONCACAF federation, and features teams such as the United States Soccer Team and the Mexico Soccer Team. A total of 12 teams compete in a knockout round format in order to become the champions of the tournament. Mexico is the most successful team to participate in the tournament winning a total of 7 championships. The competition was founded in 1963, as the CONCACAF Campeonato de Naciones, and was renamed the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 1990. Costa Rica is the very first winner of the competition, defeating the host country El Salvador in the finals. The most recent winner of the competition is the United States National Soccer Team.

History

The CONCACAF was formed in 1961 when the North American Football Confederation (NAFC) and Confederación Centroamericana y del Caribe de Fútbol (CCCF) merged, resulting in a single confederation controlling football all over the continent of North America. The first tournament was held in 1963, and was named Campeonato de Naciones, with El Salvador hosting the competition. Costa Rica became the first ever champions of the new competition beating El Salvador.

From that point on the tournament was held every two years, with the second competition being held in Guatemala, with the Mexican National Football Team ( Tri Color) beating Guatemala in order to win their first championship. In 1967 the tournament was hosted by Honduras, and Guatemala was crowned champion. In 1971 the tournament was held in the Caribbean for the time, as Mexico won its second title in Trinidad & Tobago.

In 1974 the stakes became even higher, as the winning national football team of the Campeonato de Naciones, automatically qualifies for the World Cup. Haiti, the host country of the 1974 competition, became the first country to earn these rights.

The next two editions of the tournament were held in Mexico City in 1977 and Tegucigalpa, Honduras in 1981, with the host country becoming the champion. Canada and Costa Rica were named champions in ’85 and ’89, but without ever lifting a trophy.

The tournament was renamed the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 1990, whenCONCACAF created a tournament as its showpiece even to crown a regional champion. The United States became the first country to host and win the new tournament in 1991. The Mexican National Football Team became the dominant team for the remainder of the decade, winning three consecutive CONCACAF Gold Cup titles in 1993, 1996 and 1998.

In 2000 three more teams were added to the tournament. Canada won its first international soccer competition that same year, defeating Colombia 2-0 at Memorial Coliseum, in Los Angeles. The Canadians goalkeeper Craig Forrest won MVP honors, Carlo Corazzin won the Golden Boot and Richard Hasting became the “Rookie of the Tournament”. USA became the dominant country during the new millennium. Currently the national squad is the reining champions, as it defeated Mexico in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup finals, withBenny Feilhaber scoring the game winning goal in the 77th minute.