The Concacaf League of Nations reaches 500th tonight’s game tonight’s milestone as the Cayman Islands take on Dominica at Windsor Park in Roseau, Dominica in the first round of Group B matches.
The milestone will be commemorated with several special activations, including commemorative 500th match patches. Concacaf will also produce custom match balls to mark the occasion.
This is the fifth edition of the Concacaf Nations League, which is the only qualification path for the 2027 Gold Cup. A total of 74 international matches will be played during the months of September and October.
For this edition of the Nations League, Concacaf has provided multiple pathways for teams to qualify for the Gold Cup
The four winners of the quarter-finals of League A and the four of the group of League B will qualify directly for the Gold Cup.
The four losing A-League quarter-finalists and the third and fourth-placed teams from each A-League group, as well as the two best runners-up from B-League, will be given a second chance to qualify through the Gold Cup Preliminaries.
In addition, the fifth and sixth-placed teams from each group in League A will compete against the three group winners from League C and the best runners-up from the Play-In Leagues A and C. The four Play-In winners will also advance to the Gold Cup preliminaries.
The 14 teams from the Gold Cup preliminaries will compete in seven home and away series in March 2027, with the seven winners qualifying for the 2027 Concacaf Gold Cup.
the 16th The Gold Cup team will be Saudi Arabia who will be invited for the second time.
Nations League format and teams:
League A: 16 teams (group stage and quarter-finals)
League A will feature 16 national teams, including a group stage and quarter-finals. The 12 lowest-ranked A-League teams, based on the Concacaf rankings, will compete in a Swiss-style group stage format, divided into two groups of six teams each. Each team will play four games: two at home and two away.
Group A: Costa Rica, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Curaçao, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic
Group B: Honduras, Jamaica, Guatemala, Suriname, Martinique, El Salvador
The top two finishers from each group will advance to the quarter-finals, joining the four pre-qualified League A teams: Mexico, United States, Canada and Panama.
The quarter-final matches will be determined based on the Concacaf ranking after the September-October FIFA match window and will be played home and away in November 2026.
QF1: Fourth-seeded team vs. Best first-place team (1A/1B)
QF2: Third-seeded team vs. next-highest first-place team (1A/1B)
QF3: Second-seeded team vs. Best second-seeded team (2A/2B)
QF4:Highest seeded team vs next highest second seed (2A/2B)
The overall winners will advance to the Concacaf Nations League final, which will be played at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
League B: 16 teams (group stage)
League B will have 16 teams divided into four groups of four in centralized venues. During the September-October and November match windows, each team will play two matches against each opponent in their group, for a total of six matches per team.
Group A:Guyana, Puerto Rico, Dominica, Cayman Islands
Group B:Guadeloupe, Bermuda, Saint Lucia, Barbados
Group C:Cuba, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Bonaire
Group D:French Guiana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Sint Maarten
After the group stage, the four group winners will advance to the B League Championship, where they will compete for the title of B League Champions.
League C: 9 teams (group stage)
League C will have 9 teams divided into three groups of three.
Group A:Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands, British Virgin Islands
Group B:Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Anguilla
Group C:Saint Martin, Bahamas, US Virgin Islands
The three group winners and the best runner-up will advance to the C League Championship, where they will compete for the title of C League Champions.
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