Copa Centroamericana

Copa Centroamericana
The current Copa Centroamericana official logo, in use since 2011
Founded	February 19, 1991
Region	Central America (UNCAF)
Number of teams	7
Current champions	Costa Rica (8th time)
Most successful team(s)	Costa Rica (8 titles)
Website	Official website
2016 Copa Centroamericana

The Copa Centroamericana ([ˈkopa sentɾoameɾiˈkana], Spanish for "Central American Cup") is the main association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol (UNCAF), the sport's Central American governing body. Held every two years since 1991, in the years before and after the FIFA World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UNCAF Nations Cup (Spanish: Copa de Naciones de la UNCAF), changing to the current name in 2011.

The tournament consists of two stages. In the group round of the tournament finals, the seven teams competed in two round-robin groups, one of four teams and the other of three, for points, with the top two teams in each group proceeding. These four teams advanced to the semifinal stage of the final round, where the winners advance into the final while the losers dispute a third-place match. The fifth-place match is disputed between the third-ranked teams of the group stage. Depending on their performance in the Copa Centroamericana, teams then go on to participate in other competitions, such as the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the Copa América.

The 12 Central American Championship tournaments have been won by four different national teams: Costa Rica are the most successful national team of the competition with eight victories. Honduras have won three titles. Guatemala and Panama have won one title each. To date, Costa Rica and Honduras are the only sides in history to have won consecutive titles, with the former winning an unprecedented three titles in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

The most recent championship, hosted by the United States, was won by Costa Rica who beat Guatemala 2–1 at the final in Los Angeles. The next two Copa Centroamericana competitions will be held in 2016 and 2017.

History

Due to the success of the Costa Rica national football team at the 1990 FIFA World Cup and the approaching 1994 FIFA World Cup to be hosted in the United States, the CONCACAF Congress in Kingston, Jamaica decided to stage a continental championship itself; the CONCACAF Gold Cup was ratified on August 18, 1990.^[1] Costa Rica were given a bye into the competition due to its first place placing at the 1989 CONCACAF Championship, which also served as a qualification phase for the World Cup hosted by Italy.^[1] However, due to mainly economic reasons, the United States were chosen as the venue for the continental tournament.^[2]

During that same conference, the qualification format for the Central American associations were also decided on.^[1] The final qualification round of the Central American zone had two bids: the United States and Costa Rica.^[2] Costa Rica, now three-time CONCACAF champions and to celebrate their anniversary of the nation's World Cup performance by its team, was named by CONCACAF and UNCAF as the host country of the inaugural UNCAF Nations Cup tournament on February 19, 1991.^[3]

Results

Year	Host	Final			Third place match
Year	Host	Champion	Score	Runner-Up	Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
1991	Costa Rica	Costa Rica	^RR	Honduras	Guatemala	^RR	El Salvador
1993	Honduras	Honduras	^RR	Costa Rica	Panama	^RR	El Salvador
1995	El Salvador	Honduras	3 – 0	Guatemala	El Salvador	2 – 1	Costa Rica
1997	Guatemala	Costa Rica	^RR	Guatemala	El Salvador	^RR	Honduras
1999	Costa Rica	Costa Rica	^RR	Guatemala	Honduras	^RR	El Salvador
2001	Honduras	Guatemala	^RR	Costa Rica	El Salvador	^RR	Panama
2003	Panama	Costa Rica	^RR	Guatemala	El Salvador	^RR	Honduras
2005	Guatemala	Costa Rica	1 – 1 7–6 pen.	Honduras	Guatemala	3 – 0	Panama
2007	El Salvador	Costa Rica	1 – 1 4–1 pen.	Panama	Guatemala	1 – 0	El Salvador
2009	Honduras	Panama	0 – 0 5–3 pen.	Costa Rica	Honduras	1 – 0	El Salvador
2011	Panama	Honduras	2 – 1	Costa Rica	Panama	0 – 0 5–4 pen.	El Salvador
2013	Costa Rica	Costa Rica	1 – 0	Honduras	El Salvador	1 – 0	Belize
2014	United States	Costa Rica	2 – 1	Guatemala	Panama	1 – 0	El Salvador

^ Placings decided on a round-robin basis.

Teams reaching the top four

Team	Titles	Runner-up	Third place	Fourth place
Costa Rica	8 (1991 , 1997, 1999 , 2003, 2005, 2007, 2013 *, 2014)	4 (1993, 2001, 2009, 2011)	—	1 (1995)
Honduras	3 (1993 *, 1995, 2011)	3 (1991, 2005, 2013)	2 (1999, 2009)	2 (1997, 2003)
Guatemala	1 (2001)	5 (1995, 1997 *, 1999, 2003, 2014)	3 (1991, 2005, 2007)	—
Panama	1 (2009)	1 (2007)	3 (1993, 2011 *, 2014)	2 (2001, 2005)
El Salvador	—	—	5 (1995 *, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2013)	7 (1991, 1993, 1999, 2007 *, 2009, 2011, 2014)
Belize	—	—	—	1 (2013)
Nicaragua	—	—	—	—

* Hosts

All Time Table Copa Centroamericana

From 1991–2014

Last updated September 16, 2014

Pos.	Team	P	W	T	L	F	A	D	Points
1	Costa Rica	56	35	13	8	105	36	+69	118
2	Honduras	55	30	11	14	101	46	+55	101
3	Guatemala	51	23	14	14	63	48	+15	83
4	El Salvador	58	20	13	25	57	68	–11	73
5	Panama	47	18	12	17	52	50	+2	66
6	Nicaragua	39	4	4	31	24	105	–81	16
7	Belize	28	1	5	22	18	71	–53	8

References

1 2 3 "Torneo de Naciones de CONCACAF: Costa Rica busca la ratificacion de sede" [CONCACAF Nations Cup: Costa Rica looks for ratification on host bid] (Web). La Nación (in Spanish). January 25, 1991. p. 39A. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
1 2 "En Julio Copa de Naciones" [Nations Cup in July] (Web). La Nación (in Spanish). January 27, 1991. p. 42A. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
↑ "Torneo de Naciones Inicia el 26 de Mayo" [Nations Cup starts May 26] (Web). La Nación (in Spanish). February 20, 1991. p. 29A. Retrieved October 13, 2014.

External links

UNCAF's official site for the Copa Centroamericana (Spanish)
CONCACAF's official site for the Copa Centroamericana (English) (Spanish)

Copa Centroamericana

Tournaments

UNCAF Nations Cup	Costa Rica 1991 Honduras 1993 El Salvador 1995 Guatemala 1997 Costa Rica 1999 Honduras 2001 Panama 2003 Guatemala 2005 El Salvador 2007 Honduras 2009

Copa Centroamericana	Panama 2011 Costa Rica 2013 United States 2014 TBA 2016

Squads

CONCACAF competitions

National team tournaments

CONCACAF era

Current	CONCACAF Gold Cup U-20 U-17 U-15 CONCACAF Cup CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup U-20 U-17 U-15 CONCACAF Futsal Championship CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship Regional Copa Centroamericana Caribbean Cup Multi-sport events Pan-American Games Central American and Caribbean Games Central American Games Copa América Centenario

Defunct	CONCACAF Championship North American Nations Cup CFU Championship

Pre-CONCACAF

Defunct	NAFC (NAFC Championship) CCCF (CCCF Championship CCCF Youth Championship)

Club tournaments

CONCACAF tournaments	CONCACAF Champions League CONCACAF Futsal Club Championship Regional CFU Club Championship Supercopa Centroamericana

Invitational tournaments	Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana (2004–2008) Recopa Sudamericana

Defunct tournaments	Copa Interamericana Copa Interclubes UNCAF CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup CONCACAF Giants Cup North American SuperLiga

International association football

FIFA Federations Teams Competitions World Cup U-17 U-20 Confederations Cup Olympics Youth Olympics Universiade World Rankings Player of the Year Ballon d'Or

Asia	AFC – Asian Cup U-23 U-19 U-16 U-14 Regional (ASEAN, EAFF, SAFF, WAFF)

Africa	CAF – Africa Cup of Nations U-23 U-20 U-17 Regional (CECAFA, CEMAC, COSAFA, WAFU)

North America, Central America and the Caribbean	CONCACAF – Gold Cup U-20 U-17 U-15

South America	CONMEBOL – Copa América U-20 U-17 U-15

Oceania	OFC – Nations Cup U-20 U-17

Europe	UEFA – European Championship U-21 U-19 U-17

Non-FIFA	NF-Board – Viva World Cup CONIFA - ConIFA World Football Cup ConIFA European Football Cup IGA - Island Games

Games	All-Africa Games Asian Games Central America Central America and Caribbean East Asian Games Francophonie Games Indian Ocean Island Lusophony Games Mediterranean Games Pan American Games Pan Arab Games Pacific Games South Asian Games Southeast Asian Games

See also Geography Debuts Codes Player of the Century Achievements by nation Women's football

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