Year | Host nation(s) | Winner | Runner-up |
---|---|---|---|
1991 | United States | USA | Honduras |
1993 | United States and Mexico | Mexico | USA |
1996 | United States | Mexico | Brazil |
1998 | United States | Mexico | USA |
2000 | United States | Canada | Colombia |
2002 | United States | USA | Costa Rica |
2003 | United States and Mexico | Mexico | Brazil |
2005 | United States | USA | Panama |
2007 | United States | USA | Mexico |
2009 | United States | Mexico | USA |
2011 | United States | Mexico | USA |
2013 | United States | USA | Panama |
2015 | United States and Canada | Mexico | Jamaica |
2017 | United States | USA | Jamaica |
2019 | United States and Jamaica | Mexico | USA |
2021 | United States | USA | Mexico |
2023 | United States and Canada | Mexico | Panama |
It was not until the introduction of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 1991 that the Central American, North American and Caribbean region had a recognised continental championship.
Prior to the creation of CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football) in 1961, there had been a tournament largely around Central America with occasional Caribbean entrants which had been dominated by Costa Rica.
The region had been divided into smaller, regional divisions. The two main bodies consisted of the Confederación Centroamericana y del Caribe de Fútbol (CCCF) founded in 1938 (consisting of Central America and most of the Caribbean) and the North American Football Confederation (NAFC) founded in 1946 (consisting of the North American nations of USA, Mexico, Canada, and Cuba). Each confederation held its own competition, the CCCF Championship and the NAFC Championship.
CONCACAF was founded through the merging of NAFC and CCCF which resulted in a single championship being held for the continent.
In 1963, CONCACAF introduced a championship called CONCACAF Campeonato de Naciones which was staged every other year until 1971. In the subsequent years, the winners of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying section were considered champions. This mainly came about because of lack of interest from Mexico.
In 1990, the CONCACAF Championship was brought to an end to create the CONCACAF Gold Cup (also known as the Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF), with the USA hosting the first competition in 1991.
Three years before they hosted the FIFA World Cup, USA were the inaugural champions of the eight-team tournament.
The entire competition was held in southern California. Games alternated between the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
In a packed programme, teams played every other day; five games in nine days. USA kicked-off the tournament on 29 June and completed their fifth game on 7 July.
Mexico dominated the remainder of the decade, winning three consecutive CONCACAF Gold Cup titles in 1993, 1996 and 1998.
In 1996, the Gold Cup field included its first guest team; the defending FIFA World Cup champions, Brazil.
Guest nations were invited to participate in the six Gold Cup tournaments from 1996 to 2005.
Starting with the 2000 Gold Cup, the tournament field was increased to twelve teams and from the 2005 tournament, the Gold Cup again was contested exclusively by nations within CONCACAF.