CONCACAF has promised through president Jeffrey Webb that this year’s Gold Cup will be exciting with increased prize monies as motivation and a tournament aimed at higher levels of fan inclusion.

“We have expanded the prize monies as the winner for the first time this year will receive $1 million… also we have gone from $1 million in prize monies to $3 million in total,” he disclosed.

Webb thinks this year’s tournament, where Jamaica failed to qualify and effectively missed the opportunity to earn much needed funds, is poised to be the best ever.

“The Gold Cup is definitely well on its way, I think we will have an excellent competition this year and of course it falls right into the middle of World Cup qualifying, so it’s very important for teams from a preparation and development standpoint.

“We believe that we are going to focus on the Gold Cup from not only a development, but a fan participation standpoint… we must make the Gold Cup a festival of celebration of CONCACAF football,” Webb outlined.

The Gold Cup will be held in 13 host cities across the United States from July 7-28, 2013.

Group A will be contested by champions Mexico, Panama, Canada, Martinique; Group B will have Honduras, El Salvador, Trinidad & Tobago, Haiti, and Group C the USA, Costa Rica, Belize and Cuba. Each team will receive monies, which will increase with progression in the tournament.

Meanwhile, the former Cayman Islands Football Association president said he was pleased with the growth of the CONCACAF Champions League, which is the top club tournament in the confederation.

“The Champions League of course is growing tremendously… and you can see the gaps closing in club football and the exact same thing you see in national football as well, especially when you look at the World Cup qualifying.

“Club football is huge for us because that is one of the first places that players interact in a high level of competition and that’s why we will establish good club licensing system in the programme and that’s why it’s important to embrace and invest more in grassroots football,” Webb concluded.