MIAMI – Following the recent decision by FIFA and Concacaf to suspend the Concacaf World Cup qualifiers, the confederation announced Tuesday that the Concacaf Nations League semifinals and finals, scheduled in March 2021, will take place in next June.
The final is the culmination of a group stage that saw 102 official matches involving all 41 Concacaf associations take place in the September, October and November 2019 FIFA match windows. The four winners of the League A groups – Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico and United States – qualified for the first CNL semifinals and finals that was originally scheduled to take place in June 2020 but was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The match-ups for this final four format were determined by performance in the group stage and will see U.S. vs. Honduras and Mexico vs. Costa Rica in the semifinals, before a championship game to crown a first Nations League champion, and a third-place match.
This semifinals and final will take place in a centralized location in the United States. Concacaf will work with its stakeholders to finalize the location and specific dates for this competition.
Concacaf stated that holding this competition next June will enable the first round of World Cup qualifying, which involves 30 Concacaf countires, to take center stage in March 2021.
Concacaf remains in discussions with FIFA to agree a new schedule for the Concacaf qualifiers that retains the current format.
