2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup
The 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 15th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's football championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was primarily hosted in the United States, with Costa Rica and Jamaica hosting double-headers in the first round of matches in groups B and C, respectively. The United States were the defending champions, having won the 2017 tournament. With the abolition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, the CONCACAF Cup was annulled and the Gold Cup did not qualify the winner to  a major tournament for the first time since 2009. In February 2018, CONCACAF announced that the tournament would expand to 16 teams from 12. Mexico won their eighth Gold Cup title (their eleventh CONCACAF championship) with their 1–0 victory over the United States in the final. Qualified teams. The qualification system was changed and no longer divided into Central American and Caribbean zones. Among the 16 teams, six qualified directly after participating in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying Hexagonal, while the other 10 teams qualified through the 2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League qualifying. Bermuda and Guyana made their Gold Cup  debuts. Venues. In May 2018, CONCACAF confirmed that matches would be held in Central America and the Caribbean in addition to the United States. This was the first time that the Gold Cup was held in the Caribbean, with all previous matches having taken place in the United States, Mexico, or Canada. United States. In May 2018, CONCACAF announced the fifteen venues in the United States which would host matches. Soldier Field in Chicago was announced on 27 September 2018 as the venue of the final. Costa Rica. On 26 November 2018, CONCACAF announced that Costa Rica would host a  double-header in the first round of matches of Group B on 16 June 2019, taking place at the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica in San José. Jamaica. On 2 April 2019, CONCACAF announced that Jamaica would host a double-header in the first round of matches of Group C on 17 June 2019, taking place at the Independence Park in Kingston. Seeding and schedule. On 31 August 2018, CONCACAF announced that the top four teams of the September 2018 CONCACAF Ranking Index were seeded for the group stage of the tournament: The groups and full match schedule were revealed  on 10 April 2019, 18:00 EDT (15:00 local time, PDT), in Los Angeles, California, United States. Squads. Each team had to submit a list of 23 players (three players had to be goalkeepers). Officials. Match officials were announced on 15 May 2019. Group stage. The match dates and the assignments were announced by CONCACAF on 9 October 2018. The quarter-final pairings were later amended on 12 October 2018. The top two teams from each group qualified for the quarter-finals. "All match times listed are EDT (), as listed by CONCACAF. If the venue is located in a different time  zone, the local time is also given." Tiebreakers. The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows: Knockout stage. In the knockout stage, if a match was tied after 90 minutes, extra time was played, where a fourth substitute was allowed for each team. If still tied after extra time, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out. Awards. Individual awards. The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. Best XI. The technical study group selected the tournament's best XI.