Canada in sixth place on Concacaf Ranking Index for August 2020

Canada were in sixth place on the Concacaf Ranking Index as of August 2020, as featured ahead of the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup Draw. The latest Concacaf Ranking Index features Mexico, USA, Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica and Canada as the top-six in the region.

The Concacaf Ranking Index was used to seed Participating Member Associations for both the Concacaf Gold Cup Prelims as well as the Concacaf Gold Cup Group Stage, which takes place Monday 28 September 2020.

From the Concacaf Ranking, Mexico, USA, Costa Rica and Honduras were seeded into Pot 1, Jamaica, Canada, Panama (8th) and El Salvador (10th) were seeded into Pot 2, and Martinique (11th), Curaçao (13th), Suriname (15th) and Grenada (20th) were seeded into Pot 3.

Since climbing into 6th place on the Concacaf Ranking Index in June 2019, Canada finished sixth at the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup (Quarter-finals) and fifth in Concacaf Nations League A.

Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team will know their path to the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup Final on 28 September when Concacaf holds their draw for the biennial event. The new set up for the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup features a Preliminary Round will 12 nations followed by the Group Stage featuring 16 nations, including three which advance from the Preliminary Round.

Canada are one of 13 nations that have already qualified for the Group Phase of the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup, doing so last year through Concacaf Nations League A. Joining Canada in the Group Phase are Costa Rica, Curaçao, El Salvador, Grenada, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Suriname, USA, and Asian Confederation guest nation Qatar.

From the Concacaf Gold Cup Group Stage, which commences 10 July 2021, the top-two nations from each of four groups will advance to the Knockout Stage featuring Quarterfinals, Semifinals and the Final.

The 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup Preliminary Round, which runs 2-6 July, will feature Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cuba, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Montserrat, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.

CANADA SOCCER’S MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM PROGRAM
Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team, two-time Concacaf champions, were one of only four nations that have finished top-six across all three of Concacaf major tournaments across the past three years: fifth place in Concacaf Nations League A and sixth place at both the 2017 and 2019 Concacaf Gold Cups. In 2019 against Concacaf’s top three nations, Canada earned a victory against USA in Concacaf Nations League as well as eliminated both Mexico (U-15) and Costa Rica (U-17) in Concacaf youth competitions.

FIFA WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
As announced in August, Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team will compete in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Qualifiers beginning with an initial round of four matches against Group B opponents Aruba, Bermuda, Cayman Islands and Suriname. In all, 30 Concacaf nations will compete in this first round from which only the six group winners will advance to a second round of head-to-head knockout series. From the first round, the Group B winner will face the Group E winner in a second-round, head-to-head series, with the match dates and locations to be announced at a later date. The winner from that second round then advances to the Concacaf Final Round of eight nations in which each nation will play each opponent twice (once at home and once on the road). The top-three nations from Concacaf’s Final Round will qualify for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ while the fourth-best team will advance to an intercontinental playoff in further FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Qualifiers.