The 2024 CONCACAF Championships, hosted in Nicaragua, served as the sole entry route for Caribbean, Central, and North Americans to participate in Uzbekistan’s FIFA Futsal World Cup, taking place later this year.
While the CONCACAF region has football-obsessed nations like Mexico, Costa Rica, and Jamaica, it’s translation into futsal, or at least widespread awareness of the court-based sport, can be somewhat variable.
Mexico, for example, an ever present in the knock-out stages of football’s FIFA World Cup, have only qualified for a singular futsal international tournament, Thailand’s 2012 World Cup, which saw the famous ‘El Tricolor’ lose every single game that they appeared in.
Nonetheless, despite the lack of success of the continental region’s most prominent footballing nation, the CONCACAF Championships are always a spectacle for supporters and players alike to savour.
The history of the concacaf championships
Since its inception in 1996, seven years after the first FIFA Futsal World Cup, the CONCACAF Championships have been played every four years. The CONCAF Championships are viewed as the biggest international futsal tournament among Central and North American nations, while simultaneously purposing as a qualification campaign to participate in the proceeding FIFA Futsal World Cup.
The eight CONCACAF Championships since 1996 have seen four different nations lift the trophy:
- Costa Rica, who won the tournament on three successive occasions between 2012 and 2021, are the most successful CONCACAF futsal nation with a total of four CONCACAF Championship triumphs.
- USA won two of the first three CONCACAF Championships but has failed to add to their tally since.
- Guatemala appeared in the last five CONCACAF Championships final four and even won the tournament in 2008.
- Panama won their first and only CONCACAF Championships earlier this year.
What is the format of the concacaf championships, and how many nations qualify for the fifa futsal world cup?
- 12 teams participate in CONCACAF Championships, but only four exit in the group stages.
- The 12 teams are split into three groups of four. The top two in each group, as well as the two best third placed teams, proceed to the quarterfinals.
- The quarterfinals are huge games; the winners of each tie book a place in the semi-final of the CONCACAF Championships and simultaneously qualifies for the proceeding FIFA Futsal World Cup.
- The winners of the semi-finals then play in the final, while the losers play a third-place play-off.
Which four concacaf nations have qualified for the 2024 fifa futsal world cup?
The 2024 CONCACAF Championships, hosted in Managua, Nicaragua, was played between the 13th and 20th of April, and we now know the four teams heading to Uzbekistan for this Autumn’s FIFA Futsal World Cup.
1. PANAMA
Panama won the CONCACAF Championships for the first time in their history earlier this year and will be heading to the FIFA Futsal World Cup. Sitting at 37th in the world rankings, it is unlikely, despite their recent success, that Panama will have enough to challenge the tournament’s superpowers.
The Central American nation have attended the previous three FIFA Futsal World Cups but have lost five of their last six games in the tournament. After winning the CONCACAF Championships for the first time, they’ll be hoping to display signs of improvement on the world stage.
2. CUBA
Cuba was narrowly beaten 4-3 by Panama in the 2024 CONCACAF Championships final but will be heading to Uzbekistan for the FIFA Futsal World Cup later this year.
Cuba are no strangers to competing in the most illustrious international futsal tournament; this year’s tournament will represent the nations eighth FIFA Futsal World Cup. Cuba made it out the group stages in 2012 and 2016.
3. GUATEMALA
Guatemala comfortably topped their group and thrashed Mexico 9-4 in the quarterfinals but were unable to make it to this year’s final after suffering a 6-3 defeat to Panama.
Nonetheless, a semi-final finish ensured Guatemala’s place at the Uzbekistan 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup. The nation has appeared at the FIFA Futsal World Cup on six occasions but have never made it out the group stages. In 2000 Guatemala were humiliated by Brazil in a crushing 29-2 defeat.
4. COSTA RICA
Costa Rica, the record-breaking four-time winner of the CONCACAF Championships, experienced a relatively disappointing tournament by their standards, exiting in the semi-finals to Cuba.
However, at 30th in the world rankings, Costa Rica might represent the CONCACAF region’s best hopes of upsetting some of the heavy hitters at this Autumn’s FIFA Futsal World Cup.
Has futsal taken off in the usa?
It is no secret that the United States of America, the CONCACAF region’s most populated country, has historically always been somewhat apprehensive about integrating the beautiful game into their sporting culture.
Unlike in much of Europe and South America, where football is often the utterly dominant and most participated sport, Americans have a wide range of other sports, such as basketball, baseball, and American football, that have somewhat prevented football fever from taking over the country across the past 100 years.
But this trend is quickly changing, particularly among the nation’s younger generations, who consume globalised football media in abundance and have pushed for greater emphasis on the world’s most popular sport within their own country.
As a result, we’ve seen millions of dollars spent on improving the sport’s infrastructure in America, the emergence and rise in popularity of the MLS, and even the successful bid (alongside Canada and Mexico) to host the football FIFA World Cup 2026.
This rapid rise in popularity and improved infrastructure of football in America has, of course, had implications on the nation’s relationship with the court-based game.
Why are the usa not going to the 2024 fifa futsal world cup?
Some of the world’s best futsal faculties are situated in the United States, with coaches eager for wide implementation of small-sided court games to improve the technical standard of players in the country to a level where they can compete with South American and European nations.
However, despite this, USA will be absent once again from the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2024. USA were beaten 2-1 by eventual winners Panama in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Championships. With just one World Cup appearance in the past 16 years, USA will perhaps need to rethink how they utilise their state-of-the-art facilities to make the national team a more competitive force in qualifying rounds.
