The 1981 CONCACAF Championship, the eighth edition of the

CONCACAF Championship The CONCACAF Championship was an association football tournament that took place between 1963 and 1989. The competition is sometimes referred to as CONCACAF Campeonato de Naciones. The first Championship took place in 1963 and was CONCACAF's firs ...

, was held in Honduras from 1 to 22 November. All games were played in the

Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...

. This tournament was won by the host, Honduras, who earned their first title and secured for the first time a place in the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, 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 Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, traditional CONCACAF heavyweights and needing a win to go through, were eliminated by Honduras. The 0–0 tie between Mexico and Honduras qualified El Salvador 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. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

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 ...

;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 Momčilo "Mike" Stojanović ( sr-cyr, Момчило Мајк Стојановић, ; 26 January 1947 – 18 November 2010) was a professional soccer forward most notably playing in the NASL and for the Canadian national team. Early life Mike ...

* Ramón Núñez * 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 Santiague ...

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 Jorge is a Spanish Language, Spanish and Portuguese Language, Portuguese given name. It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios'') via Latin ''Georgius''; the former is derived from (''georgos''), meaning "farmer" or "earth ...

* Manuel Manzo ;1 own goal *

Frantz Mathieu Frantz Mathieu (born 23 December 1952) is a Haitian former professional footballer who played as a defender. He spent most of his career in the United States, notably with Chicago Sting. At international level, he made 15 appearances for the Ha ...

(playing against

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

)

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 as they were banned in light of a

scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

in which they used overage players in a youth tournament.)

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Concacaf Championship 1981 CONCACAF Championship,

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

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 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