The 1981 CONCACAF Championship, the eighth edition of the CONCACAF Championship, was held in Honduras from 1 to 22 November. All games were played in the Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino in Tegucigalpa. This tournament was won by the host,

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

, who earned their first title and secured for the first time a place in the FIFA World Cup, as the tournament also served as qualification to Spain 1982. The North, Central American and Caribbean zone was allocated two places (out of 24) in the final tournament. This edition was marked by an upset as Mexico, traditional CONCACAF heavyweights and needing a win to go through, were eliminated by

. The 0–0 tie between Mexico and Honduras qualified

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

to participate in the World Cup as the CONCACAF runners-up. El Salvador also became the first Central American team to qualify for more than one World Cup. This would be the last tournament which would feature a host nation for the final round.

Venues

Qualification

Final round

Honduras and El Salvador qualified for the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national foo ...

. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Goalscorers

;3 goals *

Hugo Sánchez Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born 11 July 1958) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager, who played as a forward. A prolific goalscorer known for his spectacular strikes and volleys, he is widely regarded as the greatest Mexican fo ...

;2 goals *

Ian Bridge Ian Christopher Bridge (born 18 September 1959) is a football coach and former professional who played as a defender. A former player for the Canada national team, he has coached the Canada women's national team among other teams. Club ca ...

* Mike Stojanović *

Ramón Núñez Ramón Fernando Núñez Reyes (born 14 November 1985) is an international footballer who last played for the Mesquite Outlaws in the Major Arena Soccer League. Núñez plays primarily as an attacking midfielder. He can also play as a winger o ...

* David Buezo *

José Roberto Figueroa José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

Ricardo Castro Ricardo Castro Herrera (Rafael de la Santísima Trinidad Castro Herrera) (7 February 1864 – 27 November 1907) was a Mexican concert pianist and composer, considered the last romantic of the time of Porfirio Díaz. Life Castro was b ...

;1 goal * Bob Iarusci *

Wes McLeod Wes McLeod (born October 24, 1957) is a retired Canadian soccer player who earned eighteen caps with the Canadian national soccer team. Club career Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, McLeod spent his youth career with Coquitlam Blue ...

* Jorge Luis Rodríguez *

Ever Hernández Ever Francisco Hernández (born December 11, 1958) is a retired football player from El Salvador who represented his country at the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. Club career Hernández began his career playing for hometown club C.D Santiagueño ...

Norberto Huezo José Norberto Huezo Montoya (born 6 June 1956) is a retired football player from El Salvador who represented his country at the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. Club career Huezo started his career at UES and played for ANTEL before joining A ...

Daniel Cadet Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

Gerald Romulas Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iri ...

Anthony Costly Allan Anthony Costly Blyden (born 13 December 1954) is a Honduran former footballer who played at both professional and international levels, as a defender. Career Born in Tela, Costly played club football in Honduras Tela Timsa, Real España ...

Carlos Orlando Caballero Carlos Orlando Caballero Sánchez (born 5 December 1958) is a Honduran football midfielder who played for Honduras in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Club career He played for Vida, Real España, Marathón and Real Maya between 1978 and 1993, ...

Eduardo Laing Eduardo Antonio "Tony" Laing Cárcamo (born 27 December 1958) is a retired Honduran football player and member of the Honduras national football team, known for his game-tying goal against Northern Ireland in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Club car ...

* Jorge Elvir Urquia * Manuel Manzo ;1 own goal * Frantz Mathieu (playing against Cuba)

Notes

To date, this is the last time that Mexico failed to qualify for a FIFA World Cup. (Mexico did not appear in the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

as they were banned in light of a scandal in which they used overage players in a youth tournament.)

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Concacaf Championship 1981 CONCACAF Championship, Championship 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

1981–82 in Mexican football 1981–82 in Salvadoran football 1981–82 in Honduran football 1981 in Canadian soccer November 1981 sports events in North America Sports competitions in Tegucigalpa 20th century in Tegucigalpa