About CONCACAF Gold Cup Qualification

History, Format, Organization, Media Coverage

The Concacaf Gold Cup Qualification is a preliminary round that takes place prior to every Concacaf Gold Cup edition, involving teams from the Caribbean and Central America. The first edition was held in 1998 with a single-match playoff, but it has turned into a proper KO competition with over ten teams earning spots to eventually qualify to the continental tournament.

Over the years, the method to qualify for this previous round to the Gold Cup has evolved. In recent editions, the outcome of the Concacaf Nations League is directly related to this tournament, as runners-up and winners of the different leagues are the ones that qualify to the Gold Cup preliminaries.

Once the names of the teams involved are revealed, Concacaf uses its ranking system to pre-seed the top six teams, who will face the lower-ranked national teams for a spot in the second round. All games use penalties to determine the winner in the event of a draw after 90 minutes. Eventually, three spots are awarded to the three winners of the second-round matches, who book their tickets to the Gold Cup.

Coverage of the Concacaf Gold Cup Qualification is handed to the same networks that cover the proper tournament. English broadcast and streaming rights have been awarded to Fox Sports’ platforms, while Univisión, TUDN, and streaming platform ViX have purchased rights for Spanish-speaking users. Both networks are set to cover all Concacaf Gold Cup Qualification matches until 2025.