The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) yesterday confirmed that the inaugural Concacaf Nations League, set to kick off today, will serve as the qualifying pathway for the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup, for all 41 member associations.

The new centralised men’s national team competition represents a new era of national team football for the confederation.

Created to maximise the match dates available within the Fifa international calendar, and as part of a wider strategy to provide more competitive football for all member associations, the Concacaf Nations League group stage will take place in the September, October, and November Fifa windows of 2019.

After round-robin play, the four League A group winners will advance to the Concacaf Nations League finals to crown the first-ever competition champion. The Concacaf Nations League finals, originally scheduled for March of 2020, will now take place in June.

Additionally, the group winners from League B and League C will be promoted to League A and B, respectively, while the teams at the bottom of League A and League B will be relegated to League B and C, respectively, for the next edition of the Concacaf Nations League. The official draw, which sub-divided the three leagues into groups took place March 27, 2019, at the Chelsea Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“The Concacaf Nations League is about uniting the confederation through meaningful competition, while providing an exciting pathway to the Gold Cup,” said Concacaf President Victor Montagliani. “Through this tournament, all 41 Concacaf member associations are able to follow the dream of competing on a more consistent basis, opening the door for continued development across our entire region.”

As announced in March of 2018, the Concacaf Nations League qualifies the region’s top teams to the Concacaf Gold Cup. The qualifying process for the 2021 Gold Cup will be as follows:

Concacaf Nations League A (eight teams): After group stage play in November 2019, the top two teams from each of the four League A groups will qualify directly to the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup.

Concacaf Nations League B (four teams): After group stage play in November 2019, the winner of each of the four League B groups will qualify directly to the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup.

Gold Cup Qualifiers (four teams): After Concacaf Nations League group stage play in November 2019, the third-place finishers in League A, the second-place finishers in League B, and the first-place finishers in League C will advance to a two-round qualifier, to be played in March and June of 2020.

For the first round of the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup Qualifiers, the second-place finishers of League B will face the first-place finishers of League C in March of 2020. After home-and-away play, the four matchup winners will advance to the second round, where they will face the third-place finishers of League A in June of 2020. The four matchup winners of round two will qualify to the 2021 Gold Cup.

For the FIFA men’s world ranking, all 2019-2020 Concacaf Nations League matches will be granted a coefficient score which corresponds to qualification matches of a Confederations final competition, rather than friendly international matches played during Fifa International Match Calendar window.