# CONCACAF Championship

The CONCACAF Championship, also known as CONCACAF Nations Championship, was the top continental football tournament organized by CONCACAF for senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament was held from 1963 to 1989, it is the direct predecessor of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Prior to the founding of CONCACAF in 1961, the predecessor confederations (NAFC and CCCF) organized their top senior national team tournaments, NAFC Championship for North America (1947 and 1949), and CCCF Championship for Central America and the Caribbean (1941–1961) before the merged to form CONCACAF.
The inaugural edition was held in 1963 and was CONCACAF's first tournament for national teams. The competition retained its tournament format and was played on a biennial basis for a decade.
In 1973 the tournament became the qualifying tournament for the FIFA World Cup and was played on a quadrennial basis. The CONCACAF trophy was given to the team that ranked highest in the qualifying group. In 1985 and 1989, there was no host nation for the competition.

## Results

10 editions of the tournament were held.
| Year | Hosts | Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place | Teams |
| 1963 | El Salvador | Costa Rica | El Salvador | Netherlands Antilles | Honduras | 9 |
| 1965 | Guatemala | Mexico | Guatemala | Costa Rica | El Salvador | 6 |
| 1967 | Honduras | Guatemala | Mexico | Honduras | Trinidad and Tobago | 6 |
| 1969 | Costa Rica | Costa Rica | Guatemala | Netherlands Antilles | Mexico | 6 |
| 1971 | Trinidad and Tobago | Mexico | Haiti | Costa Rica | Cuba | 6 |
| 1973 | Haiti | Haiti | Trinidad and Tobago | Mexico | Honduras | 6 |
| 1977 | Mexico | Mexico | Haiti | El Salvador | Canada | 6 |
| 1981 | Honduras | Honduras | El Salvador | Mexico | Canada | 6 |
| 1985 | North America | Canada | Honduras | Costa Rica | El Salvador | 9 |
| 1989 | North America | Costa Rica | United States | Trinidad and Tobago | Guatemala | 5 |

## Performances

| Team | Titles | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place | Total |
| Mexico | 3 (1965, 1971, 1977) | 1 (1967) | 2 (1973, 1981) | 1 (1969) | 7 |
| Costa Rica | 3 (1963, 1969, 1989) | – | 3 (1965, 1971, 1985) | – | 6 |
| Guatemala | 1 (1967) | 2 (1965, 1969) | – | 1 (1989) | 4 |
| Haiti | 1 (1973) | 2 (1971, 1977) | – | – | 3 |
| Honduras | 1 (1981) | 1 (1985) | 1 (1967) | 2 (1963, 1973) | 5 |
| Canada | 1 (1985) | – | – | 2 (1977, 1981) | 3 |
| El Salvador | – | 2 (1963, 1981) | 1 (1977) | 2 (1965, 1985) | 5 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | – | 1 (1973) | 1 (1989) | 1 (1967) | 3 |
| United States | – | 1 (1989) | – | – | 1 |
| Netherlands Antilles | – | – | 2 (1963, 1969) | – | 2 |
| Cuba | – | – | – | 1 (1971) | 1 |

### Notes

Italic — Hosts

## Debut of teams

A total of 15 national teams participated in the competition:
| Edition | Debuting teams | No. | Total |
| 1963 | Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Netherlands Antilles, Panama | 9 | 9 |
| 1965 | Haiti | 1 | 10 |
| 1967 | Trinidad and Tobago | 1 | 11 |
| 1969 | – | 0 | 11 |
| 1971 | Cuba | 1 | 12 |
| 1973 | – | 0 | 12 |
| 1977 | Canada, Suriname | 2 | 14 |
| 1981 | – | 0 | 14 |
| 1985 | United States | 1 | 15 |
| 1989 | – | 0 | 15 |

## Records and statistics
### Overall statistics by team

In this ranking 2 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. Teams are ranked by total points, then by goal difference, then by goals scored.
| Rank | Team | Part | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Dif | Pts |
| 1 | Mexico | 8 | 38 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 78 | 24 | +54 | 54 |
| 2 | Costa Rica | 6 | 37 | 20 | 11 | 6 | 64 | 27 | +37 | 51 |
| 3 | Guatemala | 8 | 39 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 58 | 40 | +18 | 42 |
| 4 | Honduras | 6 | 35 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 42 | 41 | +1 | 36 |
| 5 | El Salvador | 6 | 32 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 43 | 40 | +3 | 32 |
| 6 | Trinidad and Tobago | 6 | 32 | 10 | 7 | 15 | 36 | 50 | -14 | 27 |
| 7 | Haiti | 7 | 34 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 33 | 51 | -18 | 27 |
| 8 | Canada | 3 | 18 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 24 | 18 | +6 | 23 |
| 9 | United States | 2 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 16 |
| 10 | Netherlands Antilles | 4 | 21 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 27 | 55 | -28 | 15 |
| 11 | Cuba | 2 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 15 | -6 | 8 |
| 12 | Panama | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 4 |
| 13 | Suriname | 2 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 26 | -18 | 1 |
| 14 | Nicaragua | 2 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 27 | -22 | 1 |
| 15 | Jamaica | 2 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 26 | -22 | 1 |

### Competitive records

Legend
* 1st – Champions
* 2nd – Runners-up
* 3rd – Third place
* 4th – Fourth place
* SF – Semifinals
* QF – Quarterfinals
* GS – Group stage
* Q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
* • – Did not qualify
* •× – Disqualified
* × – Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
* – Hosts
For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament are shown (in parentheses).
| Team (15) | 1963 (9) | 1965 (6) | 1967 (6) | 1969 (6) | 1971 (6) | 1973 (6) | 1977 (6) | 1981 (6) | 1985 (9) | 1989 (5) | Times entered | Times qualified |
| Canada | × | × | × | × | × | • | 4th | 4th | 1st | • | 5 | 3 |
| Costa Rica | 1st | 3rd | × | 1st | 3rd | • | • | • | 3rd | 1st | 9 | 6 |
| Cuba | × | × | • | × | 4th | × | • | GS | × | • | 5 | 2 |
| El Salvador | 2nd | 4th | × | •× | × | • | 3rd | 2nd | 4th | GS | 7 | 6 |
| Guatemala | GS | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | • | GS | GS | • | GS | 4th | 10 | 8 |
| Haiti | • | GS | GS | •× | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | GS | GS | × | 9 | 7 |
| Honduras | 4th | • | 3rd | •× | GS | 4th | • | 1st | 2nd | • | 10 | 6 |
| Jamaica | GS | × | • | GS | • | × | × | × | × | • | 5 | 2 |
| Mexico | GS | 1st | 2nd | 4th | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 3rd | × | •× | 8 | 8 |
| Netherlands Antilles | 3rd | GS | • | 3rd | × | GS | • | • | • | • | 8 | 4 |
| Nicaragua | GS | • | GS | × | • | • | × | × | × | × | 5 | 2 |
| Panama | GS | × | • | • | × | × | • | • | • | • | 7 | 1 |
| Suriname | × | × | × | × | × | • | GS | • | GS | × | 4 | 2 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | × | × | 4th | GS | GS | 2nd | GS | • | • | 3rd | 8 | 6 |
| United States | × | × | × | • | × | • | • | • | GS | 2nd | 6 | 2 |
| Team (15) | 9 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 5 | Times entered | Times qualified |

## Top goalscorers

| Edition | Player | Goals |
| 1963 | Eduardo Hernández | 6 |
| 1965 | Ernesto Cisneros | 5 |
| 1967 | Manuel Recinos | 4 |
| 1969 | Victor Manuel Ruiz | 4 |
| 1971 | Roberto Rodríguez | 4 |
| 1973 | Steve David | 7 |
| 1977 | Víctor Rangel | 6 |
| 1981 | Hugo Sánchez | 3 |
| 1985 | Roberto Figueroa | 5 |
| 1989 | Raúl Chacón Julio Rodas Evaristo Coronado Juan Arnoldo Cayasso Leonidas Flores Leonson Lewis Kerry Jamerson Philibert Jones | 2 |

### Hat-tricks

CONCACAF Championship hat-tricks :
| Sequence | Player | Time of goals | For | Result | Against | Tournament | Round | Date |
| 1. | Juan Gonzalez | 17', 22', 72' | Costa Rica | 4–1 | El Salvador | 1963 | Final round | 3 April 1963 |
| 2. | Javier Fragoso | 57', 71', 85' | Mexico | 5–0 | Netherlands Antilles | 1965 | Final tournament | 1 April 1965 |
| 3. | Raúl Arellano Gallo | 36', 53', 85' | Mexico | 4–0 | Nicaragua | 1967 | Final tournament | 6 March 1967 |
| 4. | Víctor Ruiz | ?', ?', ?' | Costa Rica | 5–0 | Trinidad and Tobago | 1969 | Final tournament | 4 December 1969 |
| 5. | Emmanuel Sanon | ?', ?', ?',?' | Haiti | 6–1 | Trinidad and Tobago | 1971 | Final tournament | 28 November 1971 |
| 6. | Octavio Muciño | 32', 45', 46', 82' | Mexico | 8–0 | Netherlands Antilles | 1973 | Final round | 8 December 1973 |
| 7. | Steve David | 15', 51', 62' | Trinidad and Tobago | 4–0 | Netherlands Antilles | 1973 | Final round | 17 December 1973 |
| 8. | Hugo Sánchez | 46', 70', 82' | Mexico | 4–1 | Haiti | 1977 | Final round | 9 September 1977 |

## Winning managers

| Edition | Manager | Nation |
| 1963 | Mario Cordero | Costa Rica |
| 1965 | Ignacio Trelles | Mexico |
| 1967 | Rubén Amorín | Guatemala |
| 1969 | Eduardo Viso Abella | Costa Rica |
| 1971 | Javier de la Torre | Mexico |
| 1973 | Antoine Tassy | Haiti |
| 1977 | José Antonio Roca | Mexico |
| 1981 | José de la Paz Herrera | Honduras |
| 1985 | Tony Waiters | Canada |
| 1989 | Marvin Rodríguez | Costa Rica |

## Hosts and defending champions
### Hosts

| Time(s) | Nation | Edition(s) |
| 2 | Honduras | 1967, 1981 |
| 1 | El Salvador | 1963 |
| 1 | Guatemala | 1965 |
| 1 | Costa Rica | 1969 |
| 1 | Trinidad and Tobago | 1971 |
| 1 | Haiti | 1973 |
| 1 | Mexico | 1977 |