2026–27 CONCACAF Nations League A
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | Group phase: 24 September – 5 October 2026 Quarter-finals: 9–17 November 2026 Nations League Finals: 25–28 March 2027 |
| Teams | 16 |
← 2024–25 2028–29 → | |
The 2026–27 CONCACAF Nations League A will be the top division of the 2026–27 edition of the CONCACAF Nations League, the fifth season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 41 member associations of CONCACAF. The initial group stage will be held from 24 September to 5 October 2026.[1][2]
League A will culminate with the Nations League Finals in March 2027 to crown the champions of the CONCACAF Nations League.[3]
This edition of the CONCACAF Nations League A will serve to determine the four teams that qualify directly for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States. The top four teams will qualify for the final tournament while the remaining League A teams can still qualify via the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification tournament.[4]
Format
League A maintains the same format introduced for the 2023–24 season, consisting of a group stage, a quarter-finals round, a play-in round and the finals.[5] The 16 involved teams entering the competition in the group stage or directly into the quarter-finals according to their position in the CONCACAF Rankings (as of 20 July 2026), with the 12 lowest-ranked teams entering the group stage and the top four ranked teams receiving a direct pass to the quarter-finals round.[3]
The group stage consists of two groups of six teams with each team playing four matches against opponents of its group (two at home and two away) on a Swiss-system basis. The opponents scheduled in the fixture released by CONCACAF on 24 July 2026 are listed by corresponding pot below:
- Pot 1: home to Pots 2 and 4, away to Pots 2 and 5
- Pot 2: home to Pots 1 and 3, away to Pots 1 and 6
- Pot 3: home to Pots 4 and 6, away to Pots 2 and 4
- Pot 4: home to Pots 3 and 5, away to Pots 1 and 3
- Pot 5: home to Pots 1 and 6, away to Pots 4 and 6
- Pot 6: home to Pots 2 and 5, away to Pots 3 and 5
The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals where they will join the four teams that qualified directly to this round. The bottom two teams from each group will be relegated to the 2028–29 CONCACAF Nations League B, but will also advance to the play-in round in which they will join four teams from the League C in order to compete to qualify for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification tournament.[3]
The quarter-finals will be played on a two-legged home-and-away basis with the four winners advancing to the Nations League Finals and qualifying directly to the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup. The Nations League Finals, consisting of a semi-final round, third place play-off and the final match, will be played in March 2027 at a centralised venue to be announced.[3]
2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification
As announced by CONCACAF in February 2026, the 2026–27 CONCACAF Nations League will serve as a qualifier for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup.[5] League A teams will qualify for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup final tournament or the Gold Cup qualification tournament (also called CONCACAF Gold Cup prelims) or advance to the play-in round based on their performance in the group stage and quarter-finals round, as follows:[4]
- The four quarter-finals winners (i.e., the four teams involved in the finals) will qualify directly for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
- The four quarter-finals losers will qualify for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification.
- The third and fourth placed teams of each group will also qualify for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification.
- The fifth and sixth placed teams of each group will advance to the play-in round where they will face the top four teams in League C for the last four slots in the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification.
Teams
A total of sixteen national teams contest the League A, including the top twelve sides from the 2024–25 season and four promoted from the 2024–25 League B.
Team changes
The following were the team changes in League A regarding the 2024–25 season:
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Seeding
The pots were confirmed on 21 July 2026, with the lowest twelve League A ranked teams, based on the CONCACAF Rankings as of 20 July 2026, being split into six pots of two teams. The top four ranked teams (Mexico, the United States, Canada and Panama) were directly seeded in the quarter-finals.[6]
| Pot | Team | Rank[7] | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Costa Rica |
5 | 1,624 |
.svg.png){kind=small} Honduras |
6 | 1,549 | |
| 2 |  Jamaica |
7 | 1,515 |
 Haiti |
8 | 1,452 | |
| 3 |  Guatemala |
9 | 1,436 |
 Trinidad and Tobago |
10 | 1,356 | |
| 4 |  Curaçao |
11 | 1,335 |
 Suriname |
12 | 1,289 | |
| 5 |  Martinique |
13 | 1,202 |
 Nicaragua |
15 | 1,141 | |
| 6 |  El Salvador |
16 | 1,127 |
 Dominican Republic |
18 | 1,046 |
Draw
The group stage draw was held on 23 July 2026, 19:00 EDT (UTC−4), in Miami, Florida, United States,[6] where the twelve involved teams were drawn into two groups of six. The draw began by randomly selecting a team from Pot 1 and placing them into Group A and then selecting the remaining team from Pot 1 and placing them into Group B. The draw continued with the same procedure done for the remaining pots.
The draw resulted in the following groups:[8]
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Group stage
The fixture list was confirmed by CONCACAF on 24 July 2026.[1][2] All match times are in EDT (UTC−4) as listed by CONCACAF (local times, if different, are in parentheses).[9][10]
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation | |
|
|
|
|
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Costa Rica |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to quarter-finals | — | 4 Oct | — | 24 Sep | — | — | |
| 2 | Haiti |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 Sep | — | 24 Sep | — | — | — | ||
| 3 | Trinidad and Tobago |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Qualification for Gold Cup prelims | — | — | — | 4 Oct | — | 27 Sep | |
| 4 | Curaçao |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 1 Oct | — | 27 Sep | — | ||
| 5 | Nicaragua |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to play-in and relegation to League B | 1 Oct | — | — | — | — | 4 Oct | |
| 6 | Dominican Republic |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 Oct | — | — | 24 Sep | — |
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
| Haiti | Match 6 | Trinidad and Tobago |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Haiti | Match 21 | Costa Rica |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Costa Rica | Match 55 | Haiti |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation | |
|
|
|
|
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honduras |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to quarter-finals | — | 5 Oct | — | 25 Sep | — | — | |
| 2 | Jamaica |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 Sep | — | 25 Sep | — | — | — | ||
| 3 | Guatemala |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Qualification for Gold Cup prelims | — | — | — | 5 Oct | — | 28 Sep | |
| 4 | Suriname |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 2 Oct | — | 28 Sep | — | ||
| 5 | Martinique |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to play-in and relegation to League B | 2 Oct | — | — | — | — | 5 Oct | |
| 6 | El Salvador |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 Oct | — | — | 25 Sep | — |
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
| El Salvador | Match 48 | Jamaica |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Quarter-finals
The quarter-finals pairings will be determined based on the CONCACAF Rankings published on 20 July 2026 for the four pre-seeded teams and the group stage results for the winners and runners-up of each group.[4]
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Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: CONCACAF Rules for classification: Tiebreakers |
The match-ups will be as follows:
- Quarter-final 1 (QF1): Fourth ranked pre-seeded team vs Best ranked group winner
- Quarter-final 2 (QF2): Third ranked pre-seeded team vs Next ranked group winner
- Quarter-final 3 (QF3): Second ranked pre-seeded team vs Best ranked group runner-up
- Quarter-final 4 (QF4): First ranked pre-seeded team vs Next ranked group runner-up
Each tie is played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the order of legs being decided by the four pre-seeded teams that received a direct bye to the quarter-finals (Canada, Mexico, Panama and the United States). If the aggregate score is level at the end of the second leg the away goals rule would be applied. If away goals were also equal, then 30 minutes of extra time would be played without taking into account the away goals rule during this time. If still tied after extra time, the tie would be decided by a penalty shoot-out.[4]
Winners will advance to the Nations League Finals and qualify for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup, while losers will qualify for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification.
Summary
The first legs will be played on 9–17 November, and the second legs will be played on 9–17 November 2026.
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Panama  | QF1 | Best ranked group winner | 9–17 Nov | 9–17 Nov |
Canada .svg.png){kind=small} | QF2 | Next ranked group winner | 9–17 Nov | 9–17 Nov |
United States  | QF3 | Best ranked group runner-up | 9–17 Nov | 9–17 Nov |
Mexico  | QF4 | Next ranked group runner-up | 9–17 Nov | 9–17 Nov |
Note: Order of legs has not been announced.
Matches
| Match 69 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Match 86 | ||
|---|---|---|
Winner advances to the Finals and qualifies for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Loser qualifies for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification
| Match 70 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Match 87 | ||
|---|---|---|
Winner advances to the Finals and qualifies for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Loser qualifies for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification
| Match 75 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Match 92 | ||
|---|---|---|
Winner advances to the Finals and qualifies for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Loser qualifies for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification
| Match 76 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Match 93 | ||
|---|---|---|
Winner advances to the Finals and qualifies for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Loser qualifies for the 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification
Nations League Finals
Notes
- 1 2 Jamaica will play their home matches at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica due to the ongoing Haitian crisis.[11][12]
References
- 1 2 "September-October Match Schedule for 2026/27 Concacaf Nations League". Miami: CONCACAF. 24 July 2026. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
- 1 2 "2026/27 Concacaf Nations League Match Schedule (September-October)" (PDF). CONCACAF. 24 July 2026. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 "Fifth Edition of Nations League to Begin in September". Miami, FL: CONCACAF. 4 June 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 "CNL COMPETITION REGULATIONS 2026/2027" (PDF). CONCACAF. 9 April 2024 [Approved on 31 January 2026]. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
- 1 2 "Concacaf Announces Region's 2026 to 2030 Men's Senior National Team Competitions Calendar". CONCACAF. 6 February 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
- 1 2 "Concacaf Confirms Pots and Procedures for 2026/27 Concacaf Nations League Draw". Miami, FL: CONCACAF. 21 July 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
- 1 2 "Men's National Team CONCACAF RANKING INDEX". CONCACAF. 20 July 2026. Archived from the original on 24 July 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
- ↑ "2026/27 Concacaf Nations League Groups Confirmed". Miami, FL: CONCACAF. 24 July 2026. Retrieved 24 July 2026.
- ↑ "2026/27 Concacaf Nations League September-October Schedule Confirmed". Miami: CONCACAF. 21 August 2026. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
- ↑ "2026/27 Nations League Match Schedule - September and October" (PDF). CONCACAF. 21 August 2026. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
- ↑ "Communiqué officiel" [Official Statement] (in French). Haitian Football Federation. 31 July 2026. Retrieved 23 August 2026 – via Facebook.
- ↑ Bordes, Gérald (1 August 2026). "Haïti jouera ses deux matchs à domicile en Jamaïque" [Haiti to play their two home matches in Jamaica] (in French). Le National. Retrieved 23 August 2026.