Concacaf announced today the details and format of the Concacaf Nations League, a new tournament set to debut in 2019 for men’s national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
The inaugural Concacaf Nations League will separate competing counties into three leagues based on sporting performance: A, B and C. The top league will culminate with a championship match in March 2020, and the competition will also serve as a qualifying path for the region’s national teams to the newly expanded Concacaf Gold Cup.
The tournament proper will take place during official FIFA match windows in September, October and November 2019 leading up to the final the following spring.
Tournament Structure
Leagues A, B and C will all feature a group stage with a home-and-away, round-robin format.
League A will contain four groups of three teams. The winners of each group in League A will advance to the Concacaf Nations League Final Championship, which will crown the champion of the new tournament. The last-place teams from each League A group will be relegated to League B for the next edition of the competition.
League B will contain four groups of four teams. The winner of each group in League B will be promoted to League A, and the bottom team of each League B Group will be relegated to League C for the next edition.
League C will consist of the remaining Concacaf Member Associations, divided into four groups. The winner of each League C group will be promoted to League B.
One-Off Qualifying
The one-off qualifying phase for the Concacaf Nations League will run from September 2018 through March 2019, consisting of 34 teams and excluding the six countries that reached the Hexagonal Round of 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifying. Those six teams—the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras and Trinidad and Tobago—will automatically be placed in League A.
The results of Concacaf Nations League Qualifying will be compiled into an aggregate table, ranking the participants 1-34 based on points, goal difference and a series of additional tiebreakers. The top six teams from the aggregate table will join the six automatic qualifiers from the Hex to round out League A. The next 16 teams will qualify for League B, while the remaining countries will be assigned to League C.
The top 10 finishers in the Concacaf Nations League Qualifying table will join the six World Cup Hexagonal Round in the 2019 Gold Cup, which will expand to 16 teams.
