CONCACAF

The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF, /ˈkɒn.kəkæf/ KON-kə-kaf) is the continental governing body for association football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Three South American entities—the independent nations of Guyana and Suriname and the French department of French Guiana—are also members. CONCACAF's primary functions are to organize competitions for national teams and clubs, and to conduct World Cup qualifying tournaments.

CONCACAF was founded in its current form on 18 September 1961 in Mexico City, Mexico, with the merger of the 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), Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname and United States were founding members.

CONCACAF is the third-most successful FIFA confederation. Mexico dominated CONCACAF men's competition early on and has since won the most Gold Cups since the beginning of the tournament in its current format. The Mexican National Team is the only CONCACAF team to win an official FIFA tournament by winning the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup. They have also reached the Round of 16 for the past 6 World Cups. While the U.S. is the only country outside of Europe and South America to receive a medal in the World Cup, finishing third in 1930. They also reached the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals and the 2009 Confederations Cup final. Between them, Mexico and the U.S. have won all but one of the editions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. In recent years Costa Rica has become a power in the region and in 2014 became the 4th CONCACAF country to make the World Cup quarterfinals. United States has been very successful in the women's game, being the only CONCACAF member to win any of the three major worldwide competitions in women's football—the World Cup (3), the Olympics (4), and the Algarve Cup (10).

2011 in CONCACAF

The year of 2011 in CONCACAF marked the 48th year of CONCACAF competitions.

Events

Men

From 5 June through 25 June, CONCACAF hosted its eleventh biannual regional tournament, the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Hosted in the United States, it was the fourth-consecutive tournament that the Gold Cup was solely held in the United States. The Gold Cup saw Mexico earn their sixth Gold Cup honor, by defeating tournament hosts, and longtime rivals, the United States, by a 4–2 scoreline. The Mexican team earned their way into the finals through the virtue of winning Group A with a perfect 3–0–0 record, prior to defeating Guatemala and Honduras in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. The U.S. team, finished as runners-up in 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Group C after posting a record of two wins, a loss and no draws. In the knockout stage, the U.S. defeated Group B winners, Jamaica by 2–0 scoreline, before defeating Group C winners, Panama 1–0 in the semifinals.