The CONCACAF Cup (officially the CONCACAF Cup presented by Scotiabank for sponsorship reasons) was an international

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

play-off match to determine CONCACAF's entry into the

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 20 ...

in Russia. The

2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 12th CONCACAF Gold Cup competition and the 22nd CONCACAF regional championship overall in CONCACAF's fifty years of existence. The United States was the host nation. The competition began on 7 July 2013 at the ...

winner United States played against the

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winner Mexico on October 10, 2015, at the Rose Bowl in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

, United States. Mexico won the match 3–2 after

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, therefore qualifying for the

Background

Even though the CONCACAF Gold Cup takes place on a biennial basis, under previous guidelines prior to 2013, only the winners of the Gold Cup that was held two years before the

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

qualified as CONCACAF's representative. For example, Mexico won the

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the 21st CONCACAF regional championship overall in CONCACAF's 50 years of existence. The United States was the host nation. The competition started on June ...

and qualified for the

2013 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tourna ...

. This, in turn, lowered the prestige of the alternating tournament, with CONCACAF teams fielding weaker rosters in the Gold Cup that was held on the same year as the Confederations Cup because the result would have no bearing on qualification for the Confederations Cup. Many teams that were also involved in qualifying for the FIFA World Cup during that year put less focus on the Gold Cup. CONCACAF announced the introduction of a play-off match on April 5, 2013. Starting from the

, the CONCACAF representative would be decided by a play-off between the two CONCACAF Gold Cup winners prior to the Confederations Cup. Then CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb stated this "will allow the Champion of every single Gold Cup edition to have the same competitive opportunity to represent CONCACAF at the international level." In the case where the same national team wins both Gold Cup tournaments, no play-off is played, and the team qualifies directly to the Confederations Cup. Following CONCACAF's decision to end their affiliation with

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due to the

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's sister company Soccer United Marketing was chosen as commercial representative for the match.

Qualified teams

* United States qualified for the play-off by winning the

, after beating Panama 1–0 in the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final on July 28, 2013. * Mexico qualified for the play-off by winning the

, after beating Jamaica 3–1 in the

2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final The 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final decided the winners of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup. It was held on July 26, 2015, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, and contested by Jamaica and Mexico. It was Jamaica's first final of a CONCACAF championsh ...

on July 26, 2015.

Format

CONCACAF originally announced on July 23, 2015, that the play-off would be played as a single match on October 9, 2015, in the United States. After the conclusion of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup on July 26, 2015, CONCACAF announced the Rose Bowl in

as the venue. The date was later amended to October 10 in order "to allow fans in attendance to enjoy a day-long of festivities, including Futbol Fiesta, a free, interactive fan zone outside the Rose Bowl."

Ticketing

On August 27, 2015, CONCACAF announced the ticket allocation process for the match. Both the United States Soccer Federation and the Mexican Football Federation received 30% of the tickets each, which was distributed through supporter groups. Another 30% was sold through a lottery where the general public could apply. The final 10% was given to local teams and sponsors. This system was to prevent the crowd being dominated by either team's supporters despite being on U.S. soil similar to previous Gold Cup finals.

Squads

Each team could select up to 23 players for their squads. On September 15, 2015, CONCACAF announced the provisional team lists. The final 23-player squads were announced by CONCACAF on October 5, 2015.

Mexico

On October 1, the final squad was announced. Head coach: Ricardo Ferretti

United States

On October 3, the final squad was announced. On October 9, it was announced that Bobby Wood would replace Alejandro Bedoya due to illness. Head coach: Jürgen Klinsmann

Match summary

Future and abolishment of Confederations Cup

A 2019 edition was initially planned, featuring the winners of the

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and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

tournaments. In November 2016, CONCACAF announced that the television rights for the 2019 edition have been sold to Fox Sports. On July 26, 2017, with their victory in the final of the

2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 14th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF, and 24th CONCACAF regional championship ove ...

, the United States ensured they would participate at a minimum in the 2019 CONCACAF Cup should they fail to win the

2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 15th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was primarily hosted in th ...

. However, on March 15, 2019, FIFA announced that the Confederations Cup would be abolished, with an expanded

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

taking place instead. This therefore also meant there would be no future editions of the CONCACAF Cup.

References

External links

2015 CONCACAF CupCONCACAF website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Concacaf Cup 2015 CONCACAF competitions 2015–16 in CONCACAF football United States men's national soccer team matches United States at the FIFA Confederations Cup Soccer in California Mexico national football team matches 2015 in American soccer 2015–16 in Mexican football October 2015 sports events in the United States 2015 in sports in California Sports competitions in Pasadena, California Mexico–United States soccer rivalry International association football competitions hosted by the United States 21st century in Pasadena, California Defunct international association football competitions in North America Recurring sporting events established in 2015 Recurring events disestablished in 2015 2015 establishments in North America 2015 disestablishments in North America