2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Copa Oro de la CONCACAF 2023 (Spanish)
This Is Ours Spanish: Esto Es Nuestro
Tournament details
Host countries	Canada United States
Dates	June 24 – July 16
Teams	16 (from 2 confederations)
Venue(s)	15 (in 14 host cities)
← 2021 2025 →

The 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 17th time this big international men's football (soccer) championship was held. It's for teams from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The event is organized by a group called CONCACAF.

Canada and the United States were the hosts for this exciting tournament. It took place from June 24 to July 16, 2023. The United States team was the champion from the last tournament in 2021. They were hoping to win again!

Teams in the Tournament

This map shows which teams qualified for the Gold Cup. Blue means they qualified, light blue means they could qualify, red means they didn't qualify, and black means they were disqualified.

How Teams Qualified

On September 2, 2020, CONCACAF announced that 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts Qatar would join the tournament. They were invited to play in both the 2021 and 2023 events.

Other teams earned their spots through different competitions:

• The top eight teams from the Nations League A got a direct spot in the Gold Cup. The remaining four teams from this league went into a special qualifying tournament.
• The top four teams from the Nations League B also qualified directly. The next four best teams from this league joined the qualifying tournament.
• The top four teams from the Nations League C all went into the qualifying tournament.
• Finally, the top three teams from this special qualifying tournament earned the last spots in the Gold Cup.

Here are some of the teams that qualified:

Team	How they Qualified	Date they Qualified	Gold Cup Appearances	Last Appearance	Best Gold Cup Performance
Qatar	Invited guest	September 2, 2020	2nd	2021	Semi-finals (2021)
Panama	Won their group in Nations League A	June 12, 2022	11th	2021	Runners-up (2005, 2013)
Jamaica	Second in their group in Nations League A	June 14, 2022	13th	2021	Runners-up (2015, 2017)
El Salvador	Second in their group in Nations League A	June 14, 2022	13th	2021	Quarter-finals (many times)
Mexico	Won their group in Nations League A	March 23, 2023	17th	2021	Champions (8 times)
United States (title holders & co-host)	Won their group in Nations League A	March 24, 2023	17th	2021	Champions (7 times)
Haiti	Won their group in Nations League B	March 25, 2023	9th	2021	Semi-finals (2019)
Costa Rica	Second in their group in Nations League A	March 25, 2023	16th	2021	Runners-up (2002)
Canada (co-host)	Won their group in Nations League A	March 25, 2023	16th	2021	Champions (2000)
Honduras	Second in their group in Nations League A	March 25, 2023	16th	2021	Runners-up (1991)
Cuba	Won their group in Nations League B	March 26, 2023	10th	2019	Quarter-finals (3 times)
Guatemala	Won their group in Nations League B	March 27, 2023	12th	2021	Fourth place (1996)
Trinidad and Tobago	Second in their group in Nations League B	June 12, 2023	12th	2021	Semi-finals (2000)

The Tournament Draw

The official draw for the tournament happened on April 14, 2023. It took place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. This draw also decided the teams for the first qualifying rounds.

Teams were put into four groups (called "pots") based on their CONCACAF rankings from March 2023. The top four teams in Pot 1 were automatically placed into different groups:

• The United States (as the defending champions) went into Group A.
• Mexico was placed in Group B.
• Costa Rica went into Group C.
• Canada was put in Group D.

The invited team, Qatar, was in Pot 4. This pot also included the three teams that would win the preliminary qualifying matches, whose names were not known yet.

Here's how the pots looked for the draw:

Pot 1 Team Points Rank  Mexico 1,939 1  United States 1,919 2  Costa Rica 1,796 3  Canada 1,743 4

Pot 2 Team Points Rank  Panama 1,695 5  Haiti 1,482 6  Jamaica 1,479 7  Guatemala 1,405 8

Pot 3 Team Points Rank  Honduras 1,403 9  El Salvador 1,330 10  Cuba 1,176 13  Nicaragua 1,067 17

Pot 4 Team Prelim match 7 winner Prelim match 8 winner Prelim match 9 winner  Qatar

Where the Games Were Played (Venues)

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| caption = Host cities and venues of the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup

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CONCACAF announced the 15 stadiums where the Gold Cup games would be played on April 10, 2023. These stadiums included a mix of places built just for soccer (used by Major League Soccer teams) and larger stadiums usually used for American football.

BMO Field in Toronto, Canada, was the only stadium outside the United States. It was the first time a Canadian stadium hosted the Gold Cup since the 2015 tournament.

Here are some of the stadiums that hosted games:

2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup Venues

Arlington, Texas (Dallas/Fort Worth area)	Charlotte
AT&T Stadium	Bank of America Stadium
Capacity: 80,000	Capacity: 74,867
The inside of AT&T Stadium.	Bank of America Stadium set up for a soccer match.
Houston
NRG Stadium	Shell Energy Stadium
Capacity: 72,220	Capacity: 22,039
NRG Stadium during a soccer game.	Shell Energy Stadium with the city skyline.

Inglewood, California (Los Angeles area)	Santa Clara, California (San Francisco Bay Area)	Glendale, Arizona (Phoenix area)	Chicago
SoFi Stadium	Levi's Stadium	State Farm Stadium	Soldier Field
Capacity: 70,240	Capacity: 68,500	Capacity: 63,400	Capacity: 61,500
The modern interior of SoFi Stadium.	Fans entering Levi's Stadium.	State Farm Stadium during an event.	Soldier Field during a match between USA and Honduras.
Paradise, Nevada (Las Vegas area)	San Diego	Toronto	Cincinnati
Allegiant Stadium	Snapdragon Stadium	BMO Field	TQL Stadium
Capacity: 61,000	Capacity: 35,000	Capacity: 30,991	Capacity: 25,513
Allegiant Stadium during a kickoff classic event.	An aerial view of Snapdragon Stadium.	The East Stand at BMO Field.	TQL Stadium during a World Cup qualifier match.
Harrison, New Jersey (New York City area)	St. Louis	Fort Lauderdale, Florida (Miami area)
Red Bull Arena	CityPark	DRV PNK Stadium
Capacity: 25,000	Capacity: 22,500	Capacity: 18,000
Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey.	CityPark in St. Louis.	DRV PNK Stadium during a game.

• A double-dagger () means the stadium is indoors or has a roof that can open and close, and it has air conditioning.

Match Officials

On June 7, 2023, CONCACAF announced the 54 officials who would be in charge of the games. These included referees, assistant referees, and video assistant referees.

Referees Country Referee  Canada Drew Fischer  Costa Rica Juan Gabriel Calderón  El Salvador Iván Barton  Guatemala Mario Escobar  Guatemala Walter López Castellanos  Honduras Saíd Martínez  Jamaica Daneon Parchment  Jamaica Oshane Nation  Mexico Adonai Escobedo  Mexico César Arturo Ramos  Mexico Marco Ortiz  United States Armando Villarreal  United States Rubiel Vazquez Video Assistant Referees (VARs) Country Referee  Costa Rica Benjamin Pineda  Costa Rica Ricardo Montero  El Salvador Ismael Cornejo  Honduras Melissa Borjas  Honduras Selvin Brown  Honduras Shirley Perello  Mexico Erick Miranda  Mexico Guillermo Pacheco  Mexico Jorge Pérez Durán  Mexico Luis Entrique Santander  Nicaragua Tatiana Guzmán  United States Allen Chapman  United States Chris Penso  United States Edvin Jurisevic  United States Tim Ford

Assistant Referees Country Referee  Canada Micheal Barwegen  Costa Rica Juan Carlos Mora  Dominican Republic Raymundo Feliz  El Salvador David Moran  El Salvador Juan Francisco Zumba  Guatemala Hunberto Panjoj  Guatemala Luis Ventura  Honduras Christian Ramirez  Honduras Walter López  Jamaica Jassett Kerr-Wilson  Jamaica Olay Duhaney  Mexico Alberto Morin  Mexico Christian Kiabek Espinosa  Mexico Enrique Bustos  Mexico Jorge Sánchez  Mexico Karen Díaz  Mexico Marco Bisguerra  Nicaragua Henri Pupiro  Nicaragua Keytzel Corrales  Suriname Zachari Zeegelaar  Trinidad and Tobago Caleb Wales  United States Corey Parker  United States Cory Richardson  United States Kathryn Nesbitt  United States Kyle Atkins  United States Logan Brown

Knockout Stage: Who Wins It All?

In the knockout stage, games must have a winner. If a match is tied after the regular playing time, teams play an extra 30 minutes (two 15-minute halves). If it's still a tie after extra time, the game is decided by a penalty shoot-out. The team that scores more penalties wins!

Unlike some other tournaments, there is no game to decide third place in the Gold Cup. This has been the case since 2005, except for the 2015 tournament.

Tournament Bracket

This shows how teams move through the knockout rounds:

See also

In Spanish: Copa de Oro de la Concacaf 2023 para niños