The CONCACAF Gold Cup is North America's major tournament in senior men's football 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.

Since the inaugural tournament in 1963, the Gold Cup was held 28 times and has been won by seven different nations, most often by Mexico (13 titles).

Haiti have won the tournament once, as hosts in 1973. That the success was not due to the home advantage alone, but had shown good results at the previous and following editions (1971 and 1977), where they each ended up as runners-up on both occasions. They are currently ranked tenth in the tournament's all-time table.

Overall record CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup record Qualification recordYearResultPosition*Squad 1963Did not qualify200214 1965Sixth place6th5014313SquadQualified automatically 1967Fifth place5th510459Squad431073 1969Disqualified220030 1971Runners-up2nd523091SquadQualified automatically 1973Champions1st540183Squad2200120 1977Runners-up2nd531166Squad7520193 1981Sixth place6th502329Squad4211421985Group stage9th400409Squad2101521989Did not enterDid not enter 1991Did not qualify211043 1993Did not enterDid not enter 1996 1998WithdrewWithdrew 2000Group stage11th201114Squad106132211 2002Quarter-finals7th310234Squad8521309 2003Did not qualify530276 2005530276 2007Group stage10th302124Squad138142712 2009Quarter-finals8th411247Squad311144 2011Did not qualify311135 2013Group stage9th310223Squad11812195 2015Quarter-finals6th411223Squad7331139 2017Did not qualify64021514 2019Semi-finals3rd540195Squad4400192 2021Group stage11th310236Squad6232136 2023Group stage12th310246Squad6510225 2025Group stage13th301224Squad6600295Total1 Title17/28672013346596118741925285116

Match overview TournamentRoundOpponentScoreVenue 1965Final round0–3Guatemala City1–30–31–11–3 1967Final round1–2Tegucigalpa2–32–10–10–2 1971Final round0–0Port of Spain0–06–03–10–0 1973Final round3–0Port-au-Prince2–11–02–10–1 1977Final round1–4Mexico City2–1Monterrey1–0Mexico City1–1Monterrey1–0Mexico City 1981Final round0–4Tegucigalpa1–11–10–20–1 1985Group stage0–2Victoria, Canada0–1Port-au-Prince, Haiti0–20–4Guatemala City, Guatemala 2000Group stage0–3Miami1–1 2002Group stage0–22–0Quarter-finals1–2 2007Group stage1–11–10–2 2009Group stage0–1Seattle2–0Washington, D.C.2–2FoxboroughQuarter-finals0–4Arlington 2013Group stage0–2Harrison2–0Miami Gardens0–1Houston 2015Group stage1–1Frisco0–1Foxborough1–0Kansas CityQuarter-finals0–1Baltimore 2019Group stage2–1San José, Costa Rica2–0Frisco2–1HarrisonQuarter-finals3–2HoustonSemi-finals0–1 Glendale 2021Group stage0–1Kansas City1–42–1Frisco 2023Group stage2–1Houston1–3Glendale1–2Charlotte 2025Group stage0–1San Diego1–1Houston1–2Arlington

1973 CONCACAF Championship

1973 was the first of five times where the tournament was played as the final round of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers. It was also the first time this round was played as a "Hexagonal" – six times playing each other in a round-robin. This format has established itself in CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers since then.

The Haitian home tournament was held from 29 November to 18 December 1973. The title holders and favorites from Mexico started off with two draws, against Guatemala and Honduras, and only won their third match against the Netherlands Antilles. Haiti on the other hand kept winning and after their fourth consecutive victory, a 2–1 win over Guatemala with two goals by Emmanuel Sanon, the tournament standings were as follows:

Ranking as of 13 December 1973RankTeamPldGFGAPts1482823914345544334254352643142

With Mexico being a match and four points down, they would have had to win their next match, and then defeat Haiti in an all-or-nothing final on the last day. However, Mexico surprisingly lost 0–4 to Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico's highest defeat ever at a continental championship, and Haiti was certain to win the tournament and qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

Haiti lost their final match 0–1 to Mexico, with the end table as follows:

Final rankingRankTeamPldGFGAPts158382511463510564566555463653182

See also Haiti at the Copa América Haiti at the FIFA World Cup

References