| Tourney Name: | CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying |
| Year: | 2020 |
| Size: | 130 |
| Country: | Mexico |
| Dates: | 18 – 30 March 2021 |
| Num Teams: | 8 |
| Confederations: | 1 |
| Venues: | 2 |
| Cities: | 2 |
| Count: | 8 |
| Matches: | 15 |
| Goals: | 38 |
| Player: | Alexis Vega |
| Goalkeeper: | Alex Güity |
| Prevseason: | 2015 |
The 2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship was the fifteenth and final edition of the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted football tournament organised by CONCACAF to determine which men's under-23 national teams from the North, Central America and Caribbean region qualify for the Olympic football tournament.
In August 2019, it was announced that the tournament would be hosted in Guadalajara and Zapopan, both cities in the state of Jalisco, Mexico,[1] with the tournament originally scheduled to take place between 20 March and 1 April 2020.[2] [3]
On 13 March 2020, CONCACAF suspended all upcoming competitions scheduled to take place over the next thirty days due to the COVID-19 pandemic in North America.[4] On 14 January 2021, CONCACAF announced that the Men's Olympic Qualifiers would now take place between 18 and 30 March 2021, as the Olympics had been postponed to July 2021.[5]
Host nation, Mexico successfully defended their title after defeating Honduras on penalties in the final. It was their eight Pre-Olympic title and third in a row, after previous wins in 1964, 1972, 1976, 1996, 2004, 2012 and 2015.[6] As the top two teams, Mexico and Honduras both qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan as the CONCACAF representatives, just as the same sides had in the previous two Summer Olympics.[7]
On 16 September 2021, CONCACAF announced that the representatives at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in France will qualify through the 2022 CONCACAF U-20 Championship.[8]
The eight berths were allocated to the three regional zones as follows:[9]
Regional qualification tournaments were held in Central America and Caribbean to determine the five teams joining Canada, Mexico, and the United States at the final tournament.
The following teams qualified for the final tournament.
| Zone | Country | Method of qualification | Appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance | width=10% | Previous Olympic appearances (last) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | (hosts & title holders) | Automatic | 12th | 2015 | Winners (1964, 1972, 1976, 1996, 2004, 2012, 2015) | 11 (2016) | |
| Automatic | 9th | 2015 | Runners-up (1984, 1996) | 3 (1984) | |||
| Automatic | 11th | 2015 | Winners (1988, 1992) | 14 (2008) | |||
| Central America | Central America play-off winners | 7th | 2004 | Winners (1980, 1984) | 3 (2004) | ||
| Central America play-off winners | 5th | 2012 | Final round winner without outright champions (1968) | 1 (1968) | |||
| Central America play-off winners | 7th | 2015 | Winners (2000, 2008) | 4 (2016) | |||
| Caribbean | Caribbean play-in round winners | 1st | 0 (debut) | Debutant | 0 | ||
| Caribbean play-in round winners | 3rd | 2015 | Group stage (2008, 2015) | 0 |
The matches were played in two stadiums in the following cities:
| Guadalajara | Zapopan (Guadalajara Area) | |
|---|---|---|
| Estadio Jalisco | Estadio Akron | |
| Capacity: 55,110 | Capacity: 49,850 | |
The draw for the tournament took place on 9 January 2020, 19:00 CST (UTC−6) at the Estadio Akron, in Zapopan, Mexico.[10] [11]
The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. The teams were seeded into four pots for the draw. Pot 1 contained Mexico, seeded in Group A as the host nation, and Honduras, seeded in Group B as the best performing team in the last editions among the other teams. Pot 2 contained the two remaining teams from North America, Canada and United States, Pot 3 contained the two remaining teams from Central America, Costa Rica and El Salvador, while Pot 4 contained the two teams from the Caribbean, Dominican Republic and Haiti.[12]
See main article: 2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship squads.
Players born on or after 1 January 1997 were eligible to compete in the tournament.
The match officials appointed for the 2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship were announced by CONCACAF on 23 February 2021.[13]
Referees
Iván Barton
Daneon Parchment
Fernando Guerrero César Ramos
Jair MarrufoAssistants referees
Iroots Appleton David Morán Nicholas Anderson Ojay Duhaney Christian Kiabek Espinoza Alberto Morin
Ronald Bruna Frank AndersonThe top two teams from each group advanced to the semi-finals.
All times are local, CST (UTC−6).[14]
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In the knockout stage, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners.
The semi-final winners qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
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The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.
| + Best XI[19] | ||||||||
| Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | Alex Güity | valign=top | Derek Cornelius Johan Vásquez Denil Maldonado Justen Glad | valign=top | Sebastián Córdova Jackson Yueill Edwin Rodríguez | valign=top | Luis Palma Alexis Vega Uriel Antuna |
As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time were counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by a penalty shoot-out were counted as draws.
The following two teams from CONCACAF qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic Men's football tournament.
| Team | Qualified on | data-sort-type="number" | Previous appearances in Summer Olympics1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| (2000, 2008, 2012, 2016) | |||
| (1928, 1948, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2012, 2016) |
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
| Country | Broadcaster | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Pay | ||
| (Host) | |||
| [20] | |||
| Honduras | Televicentro | [21] | |
| [22] | |||
| UniMás | TUDN | [23] | |