# 1981 CONCACAF Championship qualification

A total of 15 CONCACAF teams entered the competition. The 15 teams were divided into 3 zones, based on geographical considerations, as follows:
* North American Zone had 3 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner and runner-up would advance to the Final Round.
* Central American Zone had 5 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner and runner-up would advance to the Final Round.
* Caribbean Zone had 7 teams, which would be divided into 2 groups - Group A had 4 teams and Group B had 3 teams. 2 teams in Group A played in the preliminary round, against each other on a home-and-away basis, with the winner advancing to Group A proper. The 3 teams in each group would then play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would advance to the Final Round.

## Entrants

* Canada
* Costa Rica
* Cuba
* El Salvador
* Grenada
* Guatemala
* Guyana
* Haiti
* Honduras
* Mexico
* Netherlands Antilles
* Panama
* Suriname
* Trinidad and Tobago
* United States

## North American Zone

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Canada | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 5 |
| 2 | Mexico | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 4 |
| 3 | United States | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | −4 | 3 |
Canada and Mexico advanced to the finals.

## Central American Zone

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Honduras | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 5 | +10 | 12 |
| 2 | El Salvador | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 12 |
| 3 | Guatemala | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 2 | +8 | 9 |
| 4 | Costa Rica | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 6 |
| 5 | Panama | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 24 | −21 | 1 |
Honduras and El Salvador advanced to the finals.

## Caribbean Zone
### Group A Preliminary Round

Guyana won 8-4 on aggregate and advanced to Group A.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Cuba | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | +7 | 7 |
| 2 | Suriname | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 5 |
| 3 | Guyana | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 9 | −9 | 0 |
Cuba advanced to the finals.

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Haiti | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 5 |
| 2 | Trinidad and Tobago | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 4 |
| 3 | Netherlands Antilles | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 3 |
Haiti advanced to the finals.

## Qualified Teams

* Canada (CONCACAF North American Zone Winners)
* Mexico (CONCACAF North American Zone Runners-up)
* Honduras (CONCACAF Central American Zone Winners)
* El Salvador (CONCACAF Central American Zone Runners-up)
* Cuba (CONCACAF Caribbean Zone Group 1 Winners)
* Haiti (CONCACAF Caribbean Zone Group 2 Winners)

## Goalscorers
### 5 goals

* Jorge González
* Salvador Bernárdez

### 4 goals

* Clyde Watson
* Roberto Bailey
* Hugo Sánchez

### 3 goals

* Julio Roberto Gómez Rendón
* José Emilio Mitrovich
* José Roberto Figueroa

### 2 goals

* Omar Morera Barrantes
* Luis Hernández
* Roberto Pereira
* Norberto Huezo
* José María Rivas
* Selvin Pennant
* Ashton Canterbury Taylor
* Serge Crispin
* Adrián Camacho
* Daniel Montillo Ruíz
* Johan Leisbergen
* Steve Moyers

### 1 goal

* Gerry Gray
* Robert Iarusci
* Branko Šegota
* Mike Stojanović
* Omar Arroyo
* Javier Jiménez
* William Jiménez Mora
* Rodolfo Mills
* Regino Delgado
* Roberto Espinosa
* Andrés Roldán
* Óscar Gustavo Guerrero
* Carlton Belfon
* Douglas Cherubin
* Jude Julien
* Jude Mitchell
* Óscar Enrique Sánchez
* Allan Wellmann
* Gordon Braithwaite
* Clyde Ford
* Fritz Bobo
* Carlo Brevin
* Fernando Bulnes
* Allan Anthony Costly
* Moisés Tomás Velásquez Torres
* José Luis González China
* Guillermo Mendizabal
* Glenn Kwidama
* Ricardo Paschal Chambers
* Ricardo Calor
* Roy George
* Kenneth Stjeward
* Leroy Spann
* Rick Davis
* Greg Villa