Inter Miami CF Stadium in South Florida will host the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup preliminary round that will serve as the official start to the Gold Cup in July when several Caribbean teams face off for spots in the Group Stage of the competition.

For 2021, CONCACAF’s flagship competition will for the first time include the preliminaries prior to the 16-team Group Stage. The 12 nations participating in the preliminary round qualified through their Concacaf Nations League performances and will compete for the final three spots in the Gold Cup Group Stage.

“We look forward with great anticipation to this summer’s Gold Cup, which will undoubtedly be enhanced by this new Preliminary Round,” said Concacaf President and FIFA Vice President Victor Montagliani.

“The past year has been very challenging in our region and our thoughts are with all the communities that have suffered. We hope the opportunity to watch the best men’s national teams in CONCACAF compete in our flagship tournament can provide fans with some hope and enjoyment

All 12 of the competing nations in the Prelims will get a full Gold Cup experience at the excellent Inter Miami facilities and we look forward to a great set of games.”

“We look forward to hosting the Gold Cup Prelims tournament in our stadium,” said Inter Miami CF Managing Owner Jorge Mas. “Our facilities in Fort Lauderdale were built with the intent of giving our fans opportunities to enjoy the world’s game knowing that our vibrant culture and sports-centric region would be attractive for global teams and competitions. This is just the beginning of the great things that lie ahead.”

12 NATIONS FACE OFF

Twelve nations will play from July 2-6, 2021, at Inter Miami CF Stadium, a brand-new football-specific stadium inaugurated just last year.

In Round One on July 2 and 3, Haiti will take on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Guatemala faces Guyana while Trinidad and Tobago will go up against Monserrat.

Meanwhile, Cuba will tackle French Guiana and Guadeloupe will battle The Bahamas.

Bermuda against Barbados will be the final match of the round.

The six Round One winners will qualify for the second round and will play as follows:

Round Two will begin on July 6 when the winner of the Haiti/St Vincent clash will take on the winner of the Bermuda/Barbados matchup.

The winner of the Guatemala/Guyana encounter will play the winner of the Guadeloupe/Bahamas match.

And finally, the winner of the Cuba/French Guiana match will tackle the winner of Trinidad and Tobago/Montserrat clash.

The winning nation in each of the three Round Two matchups will advance to the Group Stage of the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, where they were drawn into Group A, B and C as follows:

• Group A: Mexico, El Salvador, Curacao, and Winner Prelims 9
• Group B: USA, Canada, Martinique, and Winner Prelims 7
• Group C: Costa Rica, Jamaica, Suriname, and Winner Prelims 8
• Group D: Honduras, Panama, Grenada, and Qatar.

The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup group stage will kick off on July 10 and run through August 1, 2021 and will feature 16 national teams, of which Canada, Costa Rica, Curaçao, El Salvador, Grenada, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, eight-time and defending champion Mexico, Panama, Suriname, six-time champion United States, are already qualified to the group stage of the tournament. Additionally, Qatar has been invited to the tournament as the current champion and representative of the Asian Football Confederation.

The remaining three countries will qualify through the Gold Cup Prelims, in which 12 Member Associations will compete for the final three spots, to be played July 2-6- at Inter Miami CF Stadium in South Florida