The United States, Canada, and Mexico are gearing up to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, putting the North American confederation back on the world stage.
In addition, the U.S. women are hoping to emerge victorious from the 2023 Women's World Cup, becoming the first nation on either side to three-peat as World Cup champions.
On both occasions, CONCACAF is center stage amongst the global football landscape, and remains exceptionally relevant in the larger FIFA setup.
The Sporting News has all the important information regarding the North and Central American branch of the global football organization.
MORE: Full FIFA Women's World Cup schedule 2023
What is CONCACAF?
As part of FIFA's global enterprise, every continent has a governing body to control that individual confederation's competitions and qualification to various tournaments.
CONCACAF, which stands for the "Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football," is the North and Central American branch of FIFA. Alongside UEFA (Europe), CONMEBOL (South America), CAF (Africa), AFC (Asia), and OFC (Oceania), CONCACAF is one continental branch of FIFA's global reach.
The current president of CONCACAF is Victor Montagliani of Canada, first elected in 2016 and most recently reelected unopposed in February of 2023.
What competitions do CONCACAF control?
On the men's international level, CONCACAF's continental championship is the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The Gold Cup has been contested since 1991, when it was rebranded from the old CONCACAF Championship, which was contested since 1963.
Unlike other confederation championship tournaments, the Gold Cup is contested once every two years rather than once every four.
On the women's side, the CONCACAF W Championship is the international championship tournament. This tournament was also founded in 1991, and has been won by the United States in all but two editions. Unlike the Gold Cup, the CONCACAF W Championship, in its current format, is held once every four years.
On a club level, the North American continental tournament is the CONCACAF Champions League, borrowing the name from other federations such as UEFA, AFC, and CAF. This competition is contested annually and crowns a continental club champion.
Your back to back Concacaf Nations League CHAMPIONS!@usmnt 🇺🇸 🏆 pic.twitter.com/C2n1e2pp83
— Concacaf Nations League (@CNationsLeague) June 19, 2023
CONCACAF World Cup qualification
For the 2022 FIFA World Cup, CONCACAF was afforded three-and-a-half berths to the tournament in Qatar. Three nations would qualify directly, while a fourth would qualify for the intercontinental playoff.
To determine those teams, CONCACAF utilized an Octagonal, with eight nations reaching the final stage and playing a round robin style tournament with a table determining the final places.
With the 2026 World Cup expanding from 32 to 48 teams, and CONCACAF jointly hosting the tournament between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, that format will change. Alongside the automatic berths afforded to the three hosts, CONCACAF will see an additional three nations qualify.
To determine these qualifying places, the federation will utilize a qualification format broken into three stages. The first stage will see the bottom four teams play a two-legged knockout phase, producing two winners. Those two winners will advance to the second stage, where they join the final 28 CONCACAF nations in a group stage consisting of six groups of five nations each, with the top two teams in each group moving on.
In the final round, the remaining 12 teams are again broken up in to groups, with three group of four contested to produce one qualifier each. Two of the three second-place finishers will advance to the intercontinental playoffs, determined by a table of those second-place finishers.
For the Women's side, CONCACAF utilizes the CONCACAF W Championship, which doubles as World Cup qualification. The four semifinalists from that competition qualified for the 2023 Women's World Cup, with the United States, Canada, Jamaica, and Costa Rica reaching that threshold.