CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF, is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 41 member associations represent countries and territories mainly in North America, including the Caribbean and Central America, and, for geopolitical reasons, 3 nations from the Guianas subregion of South America: Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. The CONCACAF's primary functions are to organize competitions for national teams and clubs, and to conduct the World Cup and Women's World Cup qualifying tournaments.
The CONCACAF was founded in its current form on September 18, 1961 in Mexico City, Mexico, with the merger of the American Football Confederation|NAFC] and the CCCF, which made it one of the then five, now six, continental confederations affiliated with FIFA. Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles (Curaçao, Aruba), Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname and the United States were founding members.
Mexico dominated CONCACAF men's competitions early on and has won the most Gold Cups. The Mexico national team is the only men's CONCACAF team to win an official FIFA tournament by winning the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup. Mexico and the U.S. have won all but one of the editions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. In 2014, Costa Rica became the 4th CONCACAF country after the United States, Cuba, and Mexico to make the World Cup quarterfinals, while Panama became the eleventh country from the confederation to participate in the World Cup in 2018. The CONCACAF Nations League was established in 2018, with the United States winning the most editions with three.
The United States has been the most successful team in the world in the women's game, being the only CONCACAF member to win all three major worldwide competitions in women's football—the World Cup, the Olympics, and the Algarve Cup. Canada is the only other member to win at least two of the major competitions, winning the 2016 Algarve Cup and the 2020 Olympics.
According to the Coaches Across Continents annual report for 2021, CONCACAF is a partner of CAC. CAC is a worldwide partnership of over 100 organizations that seeks to create active citizens and achieve social impact through sport.
Governance
The CONCACAF is led by a general secretary, executive committee, congress, and several standing committees. The executive committee is composed of eight members — one president, three vice-presidents, three members, and one female member. Each of the three geographic zones in CONCACAF is represented by one vice-president and one member. The executive committee carries out the various statutes, regulations, and resolutions.Leadership
The first leader of CONCACAF was Costa Rican Ramón Coll Jaumet; he had overseen the merger between the North American Football Confederation and the Confederación Centroamericana y del Caribe de Fútbol. In 1969, he was succeeded in the role by Mexican Joaquín Soria Terrazas, who served as president for 21 years.His successor Jack Warner was the CONCACAF president from 1990 to 2011, also for 21 years. Warner was suspended as president on 30 May 2011 due to his temporary suspension from football-related activity by FIFA following corruption allegations. Chuck Blazer was the general secretary during the same period.
On 20 June 2011, Jack Warner resigned from the presidency of CONCACAF, and removed himself from all participation in football, in the wake of the corruption investigation resulting from 10 May 2011 meeting of the Caribbean Football Union. The vice-president of CONCACAF, Alfredo Hawit, acted as president until May 2012.
In May 2012, Cayman Islands banker Jeffrey Webb was installed as president of CONCACAF. On 27 May 2015, Webb was arrested in Zurich, Switzerland on corruption charges in the U.S.
Victor Montagliani, leader of the Canadian Soccer Association, was elected as president of CONCACAF in May 2016.
Corporate structure
CONCACAF is a non-profit company registered in Nassau, The Bahamas.The headquarters of the CONCACAF are located in Miami, United States. Previously it had been the Admiral Financial Center, George Town, Cayman Islands—the home city of former CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb and prior to that, they were based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago under the presidency of Jack Warner. The administration office of CONCACAF was previously located in Trump Tower, New York, when Chuck Blazer was the general secretary.
In February 2017, a satellite office was opened in Kingston, Jamaica. In July 2017, a second satellite office was opened in Guatemala City, which is shared with the Central American Football Union, and most recently another satellite office for the FIFA Caribbean Development Office was opened in the suburb of Welches, in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Members
CONCACAF has 41 member associations:M = Men's National Team. W = Women's National Team
Bonaire were promoted from an association member to a full member at the XXIX Ordinary CONCACAF Congress in São Paulo on 10 June 2014.
Teams not affiliated to the IOC are not eligible to participate in the Summer Olympics football tournament, as a result, they do not participate in the CONCACAF Men's Pre-Olympic Tournament or the CONCACAF Women's Pre-Olympic Tournament.
Aspiring future members
- — The Football Association of Greenland announced in May 2022 that they had officially begun the process of becoming a member of CONCACAF and were expected to attend the body's next congress with observer status. Greenland was not officially able to apply to join UEFA, even with political links with Denmark, due to UEFA applicants being required to apply as sovereign states. Kenneth Kleist was elected new president of the KAK in October 2023. At that time, he announced the association's intentions to apply for full CONCACAF membership in 2024. At that time, he also stated that the association had been informed that it was "quite close to admission" in the confederation. On 28 May 2024, Greenland officially applied for full CONCACAF membership. In June 2025, during its 28th Extraordinary Congress CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani announced that Greenland's membership application was unanimously rejected.
- , announced in 2019 that the Comité Territorial de Football de Saint-Barthélemy began the process of joining the Caribbean Football Union and CONCACAF for the first time.
- , announced in September 2019 that The Football Association of Saint Pierre and Miquelon is expected to build a suitable venue with the goal of becoming a member of CONCACAF in the near future.
Other potential future members
Although one of the three special municipalities of the Netherlands in the region is a member of CONCACAF, the other two are not:- has played at least six recorded international matches, all of which against neighboring Sint Eustatius.
- has played nine recorded international matches, three against CONCACAF members in the Caribbean Football Union and the remainder against neighboring Saba.
Membership relation
Elections at the CONCACAF Congress are mandated with a one-member, one-vote rule. The North American Football Union is the smallest association union in the region with only three members, but its nations have strong commercial and marketing support from sponsors and they are the most populous nations in the region.The Caribbean Football Union has the ability to outvote NAFU and UNCAF with less than half of its membership. Consequently, there is a fractious relationship between members of CFU, UNCAF and NAFU. This provoked former Acting-President Alfredo Hawit to lobby for the CONCACAF Presidency to be rotated between the three unions in CONCACAF in 2011.
Trinidad's Jack Warner presided over CONCACAF for 21 years, and there was little that non-Caribbean nations could do to elect an alternative. Under Warner, the CFU members voted together as a unit with Warner acting as a party whip. It happened with such regularity that sports political commentators referred to the CFU votes as the "Caribbean bloc" vote. Warner rejected the idea in 1993 of merging several smaller nations' national teams into a Pan-Caribbean team. His reasoning was that the nations were more powerful politically when separate than when together. He commented that "being small is never a liability in this sport".
Competitions
CONCACAF active competitions
National teams:;Men
- CONCACAF Gold Cup
- CONCACAF Nations League
- CONCACAF Under-20 Championship
- CONCACAF Under-17 Championship
- CONCACAF Boys' Under-15 Championship
- CONCACAF Futsal Championship
- CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship
- CONCACAF W Gold Cup
- CONCACAF W Championship
- CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship
- CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship
- CONCACAF Girls' Under-15 Championship
- CONCACAF W Futsal Championship
;Men
- CONCACAF Champions Cup
- Leagues Cup
- CONCACAF Central American Cup
- CONCACAF Caribbean Cup
- CFU Club Shield
- CONCACAF Under-13 Champions League
- CONCACAF Futsal Cup
Defunct
National teams:
- CFU Championship
- NAFC Championship
- CCCF Championship
- CONCACAF Championship
- North American Nations Cup
- CONCACAF Cup
- CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship
- CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
- CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup
- CONCACAF Giants Cup
- CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship
- CONCACAF League
- North American SuperLiga – North America regional championship
- Copa Interclubes UNCAF – Central America regional championship
- Interamerican Cup – intercontinental with CONMEBOL region
CONCACAF Gold Cup
The CONCACAF Gold Cup, held since 1991, is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF. The Gold Cup is CONCACAF's flagship competition, and generates a significant part of CONCACAF's revenue.The Gold Cup determines the regional champion of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, and is held every two years. Starting with the 2019 edition, 16 teams compete for the Gold Cup.
CONCACAF Nations League
All men's national teams of member associations take part in the CONCACAF Nations League, a competition created in 2017. National teams are placed into tiers and play matches against teams in the same tier. At the end of each season, teams can be promoted to the tier above or relegated to the tier below depending upon their results.CONCACAF Champions Cup
The CONCACAF Champions Cup, originally known as the CONCACAF Champions' Cup and later the CONCACAF Champions League, is an annual continental club association football competition organized by CONCACAF since 1962 for the top football clubs in the region. It is the most prestigious international club competition in North American football. The winner of the Champions Cup qualifies for the FIFA Club World Cup. The knockout tournament spans February through April.From 2024, 27 teams compete in each Champions Cup: 18 from North America, 6 from Central America and 3 from the Caribbean. North American teams qualify via either their domestic leagues and cups or the Leagues Cup competition between American and Mexican clubs, while Central American and Caribbean clubs qualify via the CONCACAF Central American Cup and CONCACAF Caribbean Cup, respectively.
The title has been won by 28 clubs, 13 of which have won the title more than once. Mexican clubs have accumulated the highest number of victories, with 36 titles. The second-most successful league has been Costa Rica's Primera División, with six titles in total. The most successful clubs are Club América and Cruz Azul from Mexico, with seven titles each.
CONMEBOL tournaments
The following CONMEBOL tournaments have had CONCACAF competitors:National teams
Clubs
CONCACAF club competition winners
Continental
By club
is the most titled club in the continent with a record of 7 CONCACAF Champions Cup titles, a continental record of 2 Copa Interamericana titles and a record of 1 CONCACAF Giants Cup title, 10 titles overall.;Key:
| CCL | CONCACAF Champions Cup / CONCACAF Champions League |
| CWC | CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup / CONCACAF Giants Cup |
| CL | CONCACAF League |
| CI | Copa Interamericana |
| Club | Country | CCL | CWC | CL | CI | Total | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| América |  MexicoBy countryThe following table lists all the countries whose clubs have won at least one CONCACAF competition. Mexican clubs are the most successful, with a total of 47 titles. Mexican clubs hold a record number of wins in the CONCACAF Champions Cup/CONCACAF Champions League, the CONCACAF Cup Winners' Cup/CONCACAF Giants Cup and Copa Interamericana. In second place Costa Rican clubs have 9 titles and they have the most victories in the CONCACAF League. In third place overall, Selvadoradian and American clubs have secured 4 titles each.;Key:
|
Costa Rica
Trinidad and Tobago
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