The CONCACAF Gold Cup is North America's major tournament in senior men's soccer and determines the continental champion. Until 1989, the tournament was known as CONCACAF Championship. It is currently held every two years. From 1996 to 2005, nations from other confederations have regularly joined the tournament as invitees. In earlier editions, the continental championship was held in different countries, but since the inception of the Gold Cup in 1991, the United States are constant hosts or co-hosts.
From 1973 to 1989, the tournament doubled as the confederation's World Cup qualification. CONCACAF's representative team at the FIFA Confederations Cup was decided by a play-off between the winners of the last two tournament editions in 2015 via the CONCACAF Cup, but was then discontinued along with the Confederations Cup.
Mexico are the most successful team in the history of CONCACAF continental championships. They have won the most titles, with twelve (nine in the Gold Cup era), and hold various records. They hosted the tournament once, in 1977, and were co-hosts with the United States in 1993 and 2003. On all three occasions, Mexico won the title on home soil.
Overall record
| CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup record | Qualification record | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D* | L | GF | GA | Squad | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | ||
1963
|
Group stage | 7th | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 2 | Squad | Qualified automatically | |||||||
1965
|
Champions | 1st | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 2 | Squad | Automatically entered | |||||||
1967
|
Runners-up | 2nd | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 1 | Squad | Qualified as defending champions | |||||||
1969
|
Fourth place | 4th | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | Squad | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | ||
1971
|
Champions | 1st | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | Squad | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | ||
1973
|
Third place | 3rd | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 5 | Squad | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | ||
1977
|
Champions | 1st | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 5 | Squad | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | ||
|
1981
|
Third place | 3rd | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 3 | Squad | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | ||
| 1985 | Withdrew to host the 1986 FIFA World Cup | Withdrew | |||||||||||||||
| 1989 | Banned | Banned | |||||||||||||||
1991
|
Third place | 3rd | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 | Squad | Qualified automatically | |||||||
|
1993
|
Champions | 1st | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 2 | Squad | ||||||||
|
1996
|
Champions | 1st | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | Squad | ||||||||
|
1998
|
Champions | 1st | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | Squad | ||||||||
|
2000
|
Quarter-finals | 7th | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | Squad | ||||||||
|
2002
|
5th | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | Squad | |||||||||
|
2003
|
Champions | 1st | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | Squad | ||||||||
|
2005
|
Quarter-finals | 6th | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 4 | Squad | ||||||||
|
2007
|
Runners-up | 2nd | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | Squad | ||||||||
|
2009
|
Champions | 1st | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 2 | Squad | ||||||||
|
2011
|
Champions | 1st | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 4 | Squad | ||||||||
|
2013
|
Semi-finals | 3rd | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 5 | Squad | ||||||||
2015
|
Champions | 1st | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 6 | Squad | ||||||||
|
2017
|
Semi-finals | 3rd | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | Squad | ||||||||
2019
|
Champions | 1st | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 4 | Squad | ||||||||
|
2021
|
Runners-up | 2nd | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 2 | Squad | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 | ||
|
2023
|
Champions | 1st | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 2 | Squad | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 3 | ||
| Total | 12 Titles | 25/27 | 123 | 85 | 21 | 17 | 271 | 73 | 24 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 50 | 17 | |||
Match overview
Winning finals
The CONCACAF Championship was played in round-robins rather than knockout matches. For the three titles in that era, the decisive matches are listed.
| Year | Opponent | Result | Manager | Goalscorer(s) | Final location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 |
Guatemala |
2–1 |
Ignacio Trelles |
E. Cisneros, J. Fragoso |
Guatemala City
|
| 1971 |
Honduras |
2–1 |
Javier de la Torre |
O. Muciño (2) |
Port-of-Spain
|
| 1977 |
Canada |
3–1 |
José Antonio Roca |
J. Guzmán (2), H. Sánchez |
Monterrey
|
| 1993 |
United States |
4–0 |
Miguel Mejía Barón |
I. Ambriz, D. Armstrong ( o.g.), Zague, G. Cantú |
Mexico City
|
| 1996 | 
Brazil |
2–0 |
Bora Milutinović |
L. García, C. Blanco |
Los Angeles
|
| 1998 |
United States |
1–0 |
Manuel Lapuente |
L. Hernández |
Los Angeles
|
| 2003 |
Brazil |
1–0 ( a.s.d.e.t.) |
Ricardo La Volpe |
D. Osorno |
Mexico City
|
| 2009 |
United States |
5–0 |
Javier Aguirre |
G. Torrado, G. Dos Santos, C. Vela, J. Castro, G. Franco |
East Rutherford
|
| 2011 |
United States |
4–2 |
José Manuel de la Torre |
P. Barrera (2), A. Guardado, G. Dos Santos |
Pasadena
|
| 2015 |
Jamaica |
3–1 |
Miguel Herrera |
A. Guardado, J. Corona, O. Peralta |
Philadelphia
|
| 2019 |
United States |
1–0 |
Gerardo Martino |
J. Dos Santos |
Chicago
|
| 2023 | 
Panama |
1–0 |
Jaime Lozano |
S. Giménez |
Inglewood
|
Record by opponent
Mexico have a positive record against every team they have played from CONCACAF. However, due to losses against invitees, they have negative records against Colombia, South Africa and Qatar. Notably, they were matched up with record world champions Brazil three times, and won all three matches without conceding.
| CONCACAF Championship/Gold Cup matches (by team) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | W | D | L | Pld | GF | GA |
|
Brazil |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
|
Canada |
6 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 23 | 7 |
Colombia |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
|
Costa Rica |
7 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 17 | 7 |
Cuba |
6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 25 | 1 |
|
El Salvador |
6 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 15 | 3 |
Guadeloupe |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
|
Guatemala |
8 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 19 | 7 |
Haiti |
7 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 18 | 3 |
Honduras |
7 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 18 | 5 |
|
Jamaica |
9 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 33 | 4 |
Martinique |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 3 |
Netherlands Antilles / 
Curaçao |
3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 18 | 4 |
Nicaragua |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
|
Panama |
3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 6 |
Qatar |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
South Africa |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
South Korea |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Suriname |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
|
Trinidad and Tobago |
5 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 19 | 10 |
|
United States |
5 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 16 | 7 |
Record players
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Guillermo Ochoa is Mexico's record player at continental championships. He has won the title a record five times, in 2009, 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023. From the pre-Gold Cup era, the most fielded player is defender Jesús del Muro, with 13 matches from 1963 to 1967.
| Rank | Player | Matches | Gold Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guillermo Ochoa | 25 | 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023 |
| 2 | Andrés Guardado | 24 | 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 |
| 3 | Gerardo Torrado | 20 | 2000, 2007, 2009 and 2011 |
| 4 | Orbelín Pineda | 18 | 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 |
| 5 | Ramón Ramírez | 16 | 1993, 1996, 1998 and 2000 |
| Claudio Suárez | 16 | 1993, 1996, 1998 and 2000 | |
| Carlos Salcido | 16 | 2005, 2007 and 2011 | |
| Francisco Rodríguez | 16 | 2005, 2007, 2011 and 2015 | |
| 9 | Giovani Dos Santos | 15 | 2009, 2011 and 2015 |
| Alberto Medina | 15 | 2005, 2007 and 2009 |
Top goalscorers
| Rank | Player | Goals | Gold Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luís Roberto Alves | 12 | 1991 (1) and 1993 (11) |
| Andrés Guardado | 12 | 2007 (1), 2011 (3), 2015 (6) and 2019 (2) | |
| 3 | Hugo Sánchez | 7 | 1977 (4) and 1981 (3) |
| Jared Borgetti | 7 | 2003 (3), 2005 (2) and 2007 (2) | |
| Javier Hernández | 7 | 2011 | |
| Raúl Jiménez | 7 | 2013 (2) and 2019 (5) | |
| 7 | Víctor Rangel | 6 | 1977 |
| Giovani Dos Santos | 6 | 2009 (2), 2011 (3) and 2015 (1) | |
| Orbelín Pineda | 6 | 2017 (1), 2021 (3) and 2023 (2) | |
| 10 | Ernesto Cisneros | 5 | 1965 |
| Javier Fragoso | 5 | 1965 | |
| Luis Miguel Salvador | 5 | 1993 | |
| Cuauhtémoc Blanco | 5 | 1996 (2), 1998 (2) and 2007 (1) | |
| Luis Hernández | 5 | 1998 (4) and 2000 (1) | |
| Pablo Barrera | 5 | 2009 (2) and 2011 (3) |
Awards and records
Team awards
- Winners (12): 1965, 1971, 1977, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023
- Runners-up (3): 1967, 2007, 2021
- Third place (5): 1973, 1981, 1991, 2013, 2017
- Fair play award: 2011
Individual awards
- Most Valuable Player:
- Jorge Campos ( 1991)
- Ramón Ramírez ( 1993)
- Raúl Lara ( 1996)
- Jesús Arellano ( 2003)
- Giovani Dos Santos ( 2009)
- Javier Hernández ( 2011)
- Andrés Guardado ( 2015)
- Raúl Jiménez ( 2019)
- Héctor Herrera ( 2021)
- Golden Boot:
- Ernesto Cisneros ( 1965, 5 goals)
- Víctor Rangel ( 1977, 6 goals)
- Hugo Sánchez ( 1981, 3 goals)
- Benjamín Galindo ( 1991, 4 goals)
- Luís Roberto Alves ( 1993, 11 goals)
- Luis Hernández ( 1998, 4 goals) (shared)
- Miguel Sabah ( 2009, 4 goals)
- Javier Hernández ( 2011, 7 goals)
- Best Goalkeeper:
- Oswaldo Sánchez ( 2003)
- Guillermo Ochoa ( 2019, 2023)
- Best Young Player:
- Jesús Corona ( 2015)
Team records
- Most titles (12)
- Most titles in a row (3, 1993–1998)
- Most tournament participations (25)
- Most matches (123)
- Most victories (85)
- Most goals (271)
- Most goals in a single tournament (28, 1993)
- Only team to win a tournament without conceding (1996 and 2003)
- Highest victory (9–0 over Martinique, 11 July 1993)
- Highest victory in a final/Most goals in a final (5–0 over United States, 2009)
Individual records
- Most goals in one tournament: Luís Roberto Alves (11, 1993)
- Most goals in one match: Luís Roberto Alves (7, against Martinique, 11 July 1993)