Concacaf announced changes to the format of the Gold Cup, the confederation’s regional championship, on Thursday. The move aims to “provide more meaningful matches and clashes between the top-ranked teams,” Concacaf said in a statement.
Once the main focus of the region’s teams, the 35-year-old tournament will return for its 19th edition in 2027 after losing some of its luster. Changes made to the format by the federation – focused on the group stage of the competition – could help restore this situation. Here’s a look at the tournament, what’s at stake and what’s changing.
What is the Gold Cup and why is it changing?
The Gold Cup is the biannual regional championship for Concacaf (the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) countries. Concacaf has crowned a regional champion in one way or another since the 1960s, but the confederation made great strides toward standardizing the competition format – and more closely reflecting the championships of other world confederations – in 1991, when it introduced the Gold Cup.
The 16 Gold Cup participants qualify via the Concacaf Nations League, a convoluted competition that awards eight group stage spots and another seven via a second chance-style tournament for lower-ranked teams. The remaining slot is occupied by a guest country, most recently Saudi Arabia, which participated in the 2025 edition and will return next year.
The Gold Cup has been won by Mexico (10 times, including in 2025), the United States (seven) and Canada (once, in 2000).
The tournament’s previous format – a group stage featuring four groups of four teams, eight of which advance to a knockout tournament – worked well but was often criticized for failing to provide meaningful early matchups between the tournament’s top-ranked teams. Fans of the United States, Canada and Mexico, for example, sometimes had difficulty following the early rounds pitting these teams against the confederation minnows, with the outcomes of these matches seeming almost predetermined.
This element – added to constant schedule fatigue and the fact that the winner of the tournament no longer qualifies for a global tournament, such as the Confederations Cup – has caused the Gold Cup to lose considerable fan interest and significant commercial appeal.
What exactly is changing?
Concacaf’s adjustment is not revolutionary but appears to be an important and valuable step toward renewed interest in the tournament. Simply put, the group stage will now feature two groups of eight teams instead of four groups of four. These eight teams will now play four group stage matches instead of three. Groups will be formed via a ‘ranking group’ system which ensures that each country faces a similar mix of opponents.
“Our fans want to see the best teams in our region compete against each other,” Concacaf President Victor Montagliani said in a statement, “and this format will create more opportunities for these matchups to take place earlier in the competition. At the same time, every match will count, with teams facing a balanced mix of opponents and competing for a place in the round of 16. We believe this will make the Gold Cup more competitive and more exciting, from the very first match onwards. the final.”
Why does this format seem familiar to you?
The format is similar but not identical to that used by UEFA in the Champions League and Europa League. In 2024, UEFA completely scrapped the traditional group stage, replacing it with a single table during the “championship phase”, where teams are divided into “ranking pots”.
The Champions League eclipses anything in Concacaf in terms of relevance to American consumers, making it a smart enough target to replicate. Concacaf’s format change won’t generate enough interest in the Gold Cup to replicate the popularity of the world’s most popular club tournament, but every little bit helps.
The 2027 Gold Cup will begin on June 17 and conclude with the final on July 11. Host cities have not yet been announced, but every edition of the competition since 1991 has been hosted or co-hosted in the United States.
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