Jump to content

2024–25 CONCACAF Nations League A

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2024–25 CONCACAF Nations League A
Tournament details
DatesGroup phase:
5 September – 15 October 2024
Quarter-finals:
11–19 November 2024
Nations League Finals:
20–23 March 2025
Teams16
Relegated Cuba
 French Guiana
 Guadeloupe
 Guyana
Tournament statistics
Matches played32
Goals scored84 (2.63 per match)
Top scorer(s)16 players
(2 goals each)
All statistics correct as of 19 November 2024.

The 2024–25 CONCACAF Nations League A is the top division of the 2024–25 edition of the CONCACAF Nations League, the fourth season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 41 member associations of CONCACAF. The initial group stage was held from 5 September to 15 October 2024.[1][2]

League A will culminate with the Nations League Finals in March 2025 to crown the champions of the CONCACAF Nations League.[3]

This edition of the CONCACAF Nations League A will serve to determine the four teams that qualify directly for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States. The top four teams will qualify for the final tournament while the remaining League A teams can still qualify via the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification tournament.[4]

Format

[edit]

League A maintains the same format introduced for the 2023–24 season, consisting of a group stage, a quarter-finals round and the finals.[5] The 16 involved teams entering the competition in the group stage or directly into the quarter-finals according to their position in the CONCACAF Rankings (as of 31 March 2024), with the 12 lowest-ranked teams entering the group stage and the top 4 ranked teams receiving a direct pass to the quarter-final round.[3]

The group stage consisted of two groups of six teams, with each team playing four matches against opponents of its group (two at home and two away) on a Swiss-system basis. The top two teams from each group advanced to the quarter-finals where they will join the four teams that qualified directly to this round. The bottom two teams from each group were relegated to the 2026–27 CONCACAF Nations League B, but also advanced to the play-in round, in which they will join four teams from League C in order to compete to qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification tournament.[3]

The quarter-finals will be played on a two-legged home-and-away basis, with the four winners advancing to the Nations League Finals and qualifying directly to the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup. The Nations League Finals, consisting of a semi-final round, third place play-off and the final match, will be played in March 2025 at a centralised venue in Inglewood, California.[3]

2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification

[edit]

As announced by CONCACAF in February 2023, the 2024–25 CONCACAF Nations League will serve as a qualifier for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.[5] League A teams will qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup final tournament or the Gold Cup qualification tournament (also called CONCACAF Gold Cup prelims) or advance to the play-in round based on their performance in the group stage and quarter-finals round, as follows:[4]

  • The four quarter-finals winners (i.e., the 4 teams involved in the finals) will qualify directly for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
  • The four quarter-finals losers will qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification.
  • The third and fourth placed teams of each group also qualified for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification.
  • The fifth and sixth placed teams of each group advanced to the play-in round, where they will face the top four teams in the League C for the last four slots in the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification.

Teams

[edit]

A total of sixteen national teams contest the League A, including the top twelve sides from the 2023–24 season and four promoted from the 2023–24 League B.

Team changes

[edit]

The following were the team changes in League A regarding the 2023–24 season:

Incoming
Promoted from
Nations League B
Outgoing
Relegated to
Nations League B

Teams promoted from League B

[edit]

French Guiana, Guadeloupe and Guyana reached the top flight of the CONCACAF Nations League for the first time, with French Guaiana and Guyana spending the first three seasons in League B while Guadeloupe started in League C in the inaugural edition before spending two seasons in League B. Nicaragua had already been promoted to the League A in the previous season but were disqualified for regulatory reasons before the start of the season, so this was their first appearance in CONCACAF Nations League A.[6]

Seeding

[edit]

The pots were confirmed on 19 April 2024, with the lowest twelve League A ranked teams, based on the CONCACAF Rankings as of 31 March 2024, being split into six pots of two teams. The top four ranked teams (Mexico, the United States, Panama and Canada) were directly seeded in the quarter-finals.[3]

Pot Team Rank[7] Pts
1  Jamaica 5 1,677
 Costa Rica 6 1,621
2  Honduras 7 1,431
 Guatemala 9 1,395
3  Trinidad and Tobago 10 1,344
 Martinique 11 1,322
4  Cuba 13 1,158
 Guadeloupe 15 1,119
5  Nicaragua 16 1,112
 Suriname 17 1,070
6  French Guiana 18 1,058
 Guyana 19 1,054

Draw

[edit]

The group stage draw was held on 6 May 2024, 19:00 EDT (UTC−4), in Miami, Florida, United States,[8] where the twelve involved teams were drawn into two groups of six. The draw began by randomly selecting a team from Pot 1 and placing them into Group A and then selecting the remaining team from Pot 1 and placing them into Group B. The draw continued with the same procedure done for the remaining pots.

The draw resulted in the following groups:[8]

Group A
Pos Team
A1  Costa Rica
A2  Guatemala
A3  Martinique
A4  Guadeloupe
A5  Suriname
A6  Guyana
Group B
Pos Team
B1  Jamaica
B2  Honduras
B3  Trinidad and Tobago
B4  Cuba
B5  Nicaragua
B6  French Guiana

Group stage

[edit]

The fixture list was confirmed by CONCACAF on 23 May 2024.[1][2][9] All match times are in EDT (UTC−4) as listed by CONCACAF (local times, if different, are in parentheses).[10][11]

Group A

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation Costa Rica Suriname Guatemala Martinique Guadeloupe Guyana
1  Costa Rica 4 2 2 0 7 1 +6 8 Advance to quarter-finals — — 3–0 — 3–0 —
2  Suriname 4 2 1 1 9 4 +5 7 1–1 — — — — 5–1
3  Guatemala 4 2 1 1 6 5 +1 7 Qualification for Gold Cup prelims 0–0 — — 3–1 — —
4  Martinique 4 1 2 1 4 5 −1 5 — — — — 0–0 2–2
5  Guadeloupe (R) 4 1 1 2 1 4 −3 4 Advance to play-in and relegation to League B — 1–0 — 0–1 — —
6  Guyana (R) 4 0 1 3 5 13 −8 1 — 1–3 1–3 — — —
Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated
Guyana 1–3 Suriname
Glasgow 43' (pen.) Report
Attendance: 500[12]
Costa Rica 3–0 Guadeloupe
 Report
Attendance: 7,542[13]
Guatemala 3–1 Martinique
 Report Appin 51'
Attendance: 14,006[14]
Guadeloupe 1–0 Suriname
Leborgne 67' Report
Attendance: 1,850[15]
Referee: Reon Radix (Grenada)
Martinique 2–2 Guyana
 Report I. Jones 14', 24'
Attendance: 220[16]
Guatemala 0–0 Costa Rica
Report
Attendance: 18,115[17]
Guadeloupe 0–1 Martinique
Report Labeau 86'
Attendance: 1,820[18]
Suriname 1–1 Costa Rica
Vlijter 34' Report Alcócer 12'
Attendance: 3,274[19]
Guyana 1–3 Guatemala
Duke-McKenna 31' Report
Attendance: 756[20]
Costa Rica 3–0 Guatemala
 Report
Attendance: 20,450[21]
Martinique 0–0 Guadeloupe
Report
Attendance: 1,550[25]
Suriname 5–1 Guyana
 Report J. Jones 13'
Attendance: 3,274[26]

Group B

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation Jamaica Honduras Nicaragua Trinidad and Tobago Cuba French Guiana
1  Jamaica 4 2 2 0 4 1 +3 8 Advance to quarter-finals — 0–0 — — 0–0 —
2  Honduras 4 2 1 1 8 4 +4 7 1–2 — — 4–0 — —
3  Nicaragua 4 2 1 1 5 5 0 7 Qualification for Gold Cup prelims 0–2 — — — — 3–2
4  Trinidad and Tobago 4 1 2 1 5 7 −2 5 — — — — 3–1 0–0
5  Cuba (R) 4 0 3 1 4 6 −2 3 Advance to play-in and relegation to League B — — 1–1 2–2 — —
6  French Guiana (R) 4 0 1 3 4 7 −3 1 — 2–3 0–1 — — —
Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated
French Guiana 0–1 Nicaragua
Report Talavera 90+5'
Attendance: 450[27]
Jamaica 0–0 Cuba
Report
Attendance: 9,900[28]
Honduras 4–0 Trinidad and Tobago
 Report
Attendance: 7,481[29]
Cuba 1–1 Nicaragua
Espino 42' (pen.) Report Medina 90+7'
Attendance: 3,565[30]
Trinidad and Tobago 0–0 French Guiana
Report
Attendance: 2,100[31]
Honduras 1–2 Jamaica
Ruiz 50' Report
French Guiana 2–3 Honduras
 Report
Attendance: 204[34]
Cuba 2–2 Trinidad and Tobago
 Report
Attendance: 4,500[35]
Nicaragua 0–2 Jamaica
Report
Attendance: 16,630[36]
Jamaica 0–0 Honduras
Report
Attendance: 11,263[37]
Trinidad and Tobago 3–1 Cuba
 Report Matos 62'
Attendance: 3,543[38]
Nicaragua 3–2 French Guiana
 Report
Attendance: 12,634[39]

Quarter-finals

[edit]

The quarter-finals pairings were determined based on the CONCACAF Rankings published after the October 2024 FIFA Match Window for the four pre-seeded teams and the group stage results for the winners and runners-up of each group.[4]

Seeded teams
Pos Team Rank[a] Pts
1  Mexico 1 1,900
2  Canada 2 1,807
3  United States 3 1,776
4  Panama 4 1,730
  1. ^ CONCACAF rankings (as of 16 October 2024)[40]
Group stage winners and runners-up
Rank Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 A  Costa Rica 4 2 2 0 7 1 +6 8
2 B  Jamaica 4 2 2 0 4 1 +3 8
3 A  Suriname 4 2 1 1 9 4 +5 7
4 B  Honduras 4 2 1 1 8 4 +4 7
Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

The match-ups were as follows:

  • Quarter-final 1 (QF1): Fourth-ranked pre-seeded team vs Best ranked group winner
  • Quarter-final 2 (QF2): Third-ranked pre-seeded team vs Worst ranked group winner
  • Quarter-final 3 (QF3): Second-ranked pre-seeded team vs Best ranked group runner-up
  • Quarter-final 4 (QF4): First-ranked pre-seeded team vs Worst ranked group runner-up

Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the order of legs being decided by the four pre-seeded teams that received a direct bye to the quarter-finals (Canada, Mexico, Panama and the United States). If the aggregate score was level at the end of the second leg the away goals rule was applied. If away goals were also equal, then 30 minutes of extra time was played without taking into account the away goals rule during this time. If still tied after extra time, the tie was decided by a penalty shoot-out.

Winners advanced to the Nations League Finals and qualified for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup, while losers qualified for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification.

Summary

[edit]

The first legs were played on 14 and 15 November, and the second legs were played on 18 and 19 November 2024.[41]

Team 1Agg. Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Costa Rica 2–3 Panama0–12–2
Jamaica 2–5 United States0–12–4
Suriname 0–4 Canada0–10–3
Honduras 2–4 Mexico2–00–4

Matches

[edit]

The fixture list was confirmed by CONCACAF on 23 May 2024,[1][2] with the matchups being confirmed on 16 October 2024.[41] All match times are in EST (UTC−5) as listed by CONCACAF (local times, if different, are in parentheses).[42]

Costa Rica 0–1 Panama
Report
Attendance: 29,201
Panama 2–2 Costa Rica
 Report
Referee: César Ramos (Mexico)

Panama won 3–2 on aggregate, advanced to the Finals and qualified for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Costa Rica qualified for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification.

Jamaica 0–1 United States
Report
Attendance: 20,213
United States 4–2 Jamaica
 Report
Attendance: 21,080

The United States won 5–2 on aggregate, advanced to the Finals and qualified for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Jamaica qualified for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification.

Suriname 0–1 Canada
Report
Attendance: 3,500
Canada 3–0 Suriname
 Report
Attendance: 13,239

Canada won 4–0 on aggregate, advanced to the Finals and qualified for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Suriname qualified for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification.

Honduras 2–0 Mexico
 Report
Attendance: 12,866
Mexico 4–0 Honduras
 Report
Referee: Drew Fischer (Canada)

Mexico won 4–2 on aggregate, advanced to the Finals and qualified for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Honduras qualified for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification.

Nations League Finals

[edit]
Main article: 2025 CONCACAF Nations League Finals

Seeding

[edit]

The four teams were ranked based on their results in the two quarter-finals legs to determine the semi-final matchups. The first seed will play the fourth seed and the second seed will play the third seed.

Seed QF Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 QF3  Canada 2 2 0 0 4 0 +4 6
2 QF2  United States 2 2 0 0 5 2 +3 6
3 QF1  Panama 2 1 1 0 3 2 +1 4
4 QF4  Mexico 2 1 0 1 4 2 +2 3
Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Bracket

[edit]
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
March 20 – Inglewood, CA
 
 
 United States
 
March 23 – Inglewood, CA
 
 Panama
 
Winner Match 1
 
March 20 – Inglewood, CA
 
Winner Match 2
 
 Canada
 
 
 Mexico
 
Third place play-off
 
 
March 23 – Inglewood, CA
 
 
Loser Match 1
 
 
Loser Match 2

Semi-finals

[edit]
United States Match 1 Panama
Report
Canada Match 2 Mexico
Report

Third place play-off

[edit]
Loser Match 1Match 3Loser Match 2

Final

[edit]
Main article: 2025 CONCACAF Nations League final
Winner Match 1Match 4Winner Match 2

Goalscorers

[edit]

There have been 84 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 2.62 goals per match (as of 19 November 2024). Players highlighted in bold are still active in the competition.

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Martinique played their home match against Guadeloupe at Stade Roger Zami in Le Gosier (Guadeloupe) instead of the originally scheduled stadium Stade Pierre-Aliker, Fort-de-France due to security reasons related to the 2024 social unrest in Martinique.[22][23][24]
  2. ^ French Guiana played their home match against Honduras at Stade omnisport, Sinnamary instead of the originally scheduled Stade Municipal Dr. Edmard Lama, Remire-Montjoly which did not meet CONCACAF requirements (playing field in poor condition).[32][33]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Concacaf announces match schedule for 2024/25 Concacaf Nations League". Miami: CONCACAF. 23 May 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "2024-25 CONCACAF Nations League Match Schedule" (PDF). CONCACAF. 21 May 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Concacaf confirms details for fourth edition of Concacaf Nations League". Miami, FL: CONCACAF. 19 April 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "CONCACAF Nations League Regulations 2024" (PDF). CONCACAF. 17 April 2024 [Approved on March 2024]. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  5. ^ a b "CONCACAF announces formats for men's national team competitions for the 2023–2026 cycle". CONCACAF. 28 February 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  6. ^ "Nicaragua asciende a la Liga A de la Liga de Naciones CONCACAF" [Nicaragua promoted to League A of the CONCACAF Nations League] (in Spanish). El Gráfico. EFE. 18 November 2023.
  7. ^ "Men's National Team CONCACAF RANKING INDEX". CONCACAF. Archived from the original on 19 April 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Draw delivers groups for fourth edition of Concacaf Nations League". Miami, FL: CONCACAF. 6 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  9. ^ "2024-25 CONCACAF Nations League Match Schedule v2" (PDF). stthomassource.com. CONCACAF. 21 May 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  10. ^ "Concacaf confirms September schedule for 2024/25 Concacaf Nations League Group Stage matches". Miami, FL: CONCACAF. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  11. ^ "Concacaf confirms October schedule for 2024/25 Concacaf Nations League Group Stage matches". Miami, FL: CONCACAF. 18 September 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  12. ^ "Suriname 3-1 Guyana (Sep 5, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  13. ^ "Costa Rica 3-0 Guadeloupe (Sep 5, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  14. ^ "Guatemala 3-1 Martinique (Sep 5, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  15. ^ "Guadeloupe 1-0 Suriname (Sep 9, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  16. ^ "Martinique 2-2 Guyana (Sep 9, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  17. ^ "Guatemala 0-0 Costa Rica (Sep 9, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  18. ^ "Martinique 1-0 Guadeloupe (Oct 11, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  19. ^ "Suriname 1-1 Costa Rica (Oct 11, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  20. ^ "Guatemala 3-1 Guyana (Oct 11, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  21. ^ "Costa Rica 3-0 Guatemala (Oct 15, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  22. ^ CONCACAF [@CNationsLeague] (12 October 2024). "The League A (Group B) match between Martinique and Guadeloupe..." (Tweet). Retrieved 13 October 2024 – via Twitter.
  23. ^ "Changement de lieu pour le match retour du Derby des Antilles" [Change of venue for the return leg of the Antilles Derby] (in French). Ligue de football de la Martinique. 13 October 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2024 – via Facebook.
  24. ^ Boutrin, Christian (13 October 2024). "CONCACAF : Le match retour entre la Guadeloupe et la Martinique se fera au Gosier" [CONCACAF : The return match between Guadeloupe and Martinique will take place in Le Gosier] (in French). Radio Caribbean International. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  25. ^ "Martinique 0-0 Guadeloupe (Oct 15, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  26. ^ "Suriname 5-1 Guyana (Oct 15, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  27. ^ "Nicaragua 1-0 French Guiana (Sep 6, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  28. ^ "Jamaica 0-0 Cuba (Sep 6, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  29. ^ "Honduras 4-0 Trin & Tob (Sep 6, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  30. ^ "Cuba 1-1 Nicaragua (Sep 9, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  31. ^ "Trin & Tob 0-0 French Guiana (Sep 9, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  32. ^ Roca, Gustavo (9 October 2024). "Concacaf sorprende con cambio de última hora para el Guayana Francesa-Honduras" [CONCACAF surprises with last-minute change for French Guiana-Honduras match]. La Prensa (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  33. ^ "Changement de lieu pour le match Guyane-Honduras" [Change of venue for the Guiana-Honduras match] (in French). Ligue de football de la Guyane. 10 October 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  34. ^ "Honduras 3-2 French Guiana (Oct 10, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  35. ^ "Cuba 2-2 Trin & Tob (Oct 10, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  36. ^ "Jamaica 2-2 Nicaragua (Oct 10, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  37. ^ "Jamaica 0-0 Honduras (Oct 14, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  38. ^ "Trin & Tob 3-1 Cuba (Oct 14, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  39. ^ "Nicaragua 3-2 French Guiana (Oct 14, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  40. ^ "Men's National Team CONCACAF RANKING INDEX (As of October 16, 2024)". CONCACAF. 16 October 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  41. ^ a b "Concacaf confirms 2024/25 Concacaf Nations League Quarterfinal and Play-In matchups". Miami, FL: CONCACAF. 16 October 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  42. ^ "Concacaf confirms November schedule for 2024/25 Concacaf Nations League matches". Miami, FL: CONCACAF. 23 October 2024. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2024–25_CONCACAF_Nations_League_A&oldid=1258798002"