The 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 13th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition and the 23rd CONCACAF regional championship overall in the organization's fifty-four years of existence. It was held in the United States, with two matches being played in Canada, marking the first time the CONCACAF Gold Cup was played in that country.
Mexico won the competition after surviving both the quarter-finals and semi-finals in controversial circumstances, defeating Jamaica—the first Caribbean nation to reach such a stage—in the final. Of the co-hosts, Canada was eliminated in the group stage, while the United States, the defending champions, lost in the semi-finals to Jamaica. The competition included a third place match for the first time since 2003, in which Panama defeated the United States.
Venues A total of 14 venues were used for the tournament. CONCACAF announced the host cities and venues for the tournament on December 16, 2014. Apart from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia which hosted the final and PPL Park in Chester which hosted the third place match (both located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area), the other 12 venues hosted two matches. The assignment of matches for the knockout round and the awarding of the final were announced on March 12, 2015.
East Rutherford Charlotte Atlanta Baltimore Philadelphia MetLife Stadium Bank of America Stadium Georgia Dome M&T Bank Stadium Lincoln Financial Field Capacity: 82,566 Capacity: 74,455 Capacity: 74,228 Capacity: 71,008 Capacity: 69,176 Foxborough Chicago Gillette Stadium Soldier Field Capacity: 68,756 Capacity: 63,500 Glendale Carson University of Phoenix Stadium StubHub Center Capacity: 63,400 Capacity: 30,510 Houston Toronto Frisco Chester Kansas City BBVA Compass Stadium BMO Field Toyota Stadium PPL Park Sporting Park Capacity: 22,039 Capacity: 30,991 Capacity: 20,500 Capacity: 18,500 Capacity: 18,467
Teams
Qualification A total of twelve teams qualified for the tournament. Three berths were allocated to North America, four to Central America, and four to the Caribbean. For the first time, the two overall fifth-placed teams of the Caribbean zone and the Central American zone competed for the final berth of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Previously, five berths were allocated to Central America and four were allocated to the Caribbean.
Team Qualification Appearances Last appearance Previous best performance FIFA Ranking North American zone (TH) Automatic 13th 2013 Champions (1991, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2013) 27 Automatic 13th 2013 Champions (1993, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2009, 2011) 23 Automatic 12th 2013 Champions (2000) 109 Central American zone qualified through the 2014 Copa Centroamericana Winners 12th 2013 Runners-up (2002) 14 Runners-up 10th 2011 Fourth place (1996) 93 Third place 7th 2013 Runners-up (2005, 2013) 54 Fourth place 9th 2013 Quarter-finals (2002, 2003, 2011, 2013) 89 Caribbean zone qualified through the 2014 Caribbean Cup Winners 9th 2011 Third place (1993) 65 Runners-up 9th 2013 Third place (2000) 67 Third place 6th 2013 Quarter-finals (2002, 2009) 76 Fourth place 8th 2013 Quarter-finals (2003, 2013) 107 Play-off winner between Caribbean zone fifth place and Central American zone fifth place Play-off 12th 2013 Runners-up (1991) 75 Bold indicates that the corresponding team was hosting the event.
Squads
An initial provisional list of 35 players had to be submitted to CONCACAF before June 7, 2015. A final list containing 23 players was to have been submitted for June 27, 2015. Three of the players named in the final list had to be goalkeepers. The players named in the final list had to wear shirts numbered 1 to 23, with number 1 reserved for a goalkeeper.
Teams qualifying for the quarter-final stage were permitted to replace up to six players. The replacements had to have been named on the provisional list and would be given a shirt numbered between 24 and 29.
An injured player from the final list could be replaced by another from provisional list 24 hours before his national team's first game.
Draw The seeded teams which headed up each group was announced on December 16, 2014: United States (Group A), Costa Rica (Group B), and Mexico (Group C). Seeded teams were determined based on November 27, 2014 FIFA rankings (shown in brackets).
SeededUnseeded (16) (20) (28) (54) (56) (68) (71) (72) (73) (79) (93) (110)
The composition of the groups and the schedule of the tournament were announced by CONCACAF on March 12, 2015.
Match officials
Referees
David Gantar Henry Bejarano Ricardo Montero Wálter Quesada Yadel Martínez Joel Aguilar Elmer Bonilla Marlon Mejía Walter López Armando Castro Óscar Moncada Héctor Rodríguez Roberto García Fernando Guerrero César Ramos John Pitti Mark Geiger Jair Marrufo
Assistant referees
Daniel Belleau Philippe Brière Warner Castro Octavio Jara Leonel Leal Hiran Dopico William Torres Juan Zumba Hermenerito Leal Gersón López Cristian Ramírez Ricardo Morgan Garnet Page José Luis Camargo Alberto Morín Daniel Williamson Eric Boria Peter Manikowski CJ Morgante
Group stage The top two teams from each group and the two best third-placed teams qualified for the quarter-finals. All match times listed are in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
Tiebreakers The ranking of each team in each group was determined as follows: Greatest number of points obtained in group matches Goal difference in all group matches Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches Greatest number of points obtained in group matches between the teams concerned; Drawing of lots by the Gold Cup Committee.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Ranking of third-placed teams
Knockout stage
Bracket
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Third place play-off
Final
Statistics
Goalscorers
Awards The following Gold Cup awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament: the Golden Boot (top scorer), Golden Ball (best overall player) and Golden Glove (best goalkeeper).
Golden Ball Andrés Guardado Golden Boot Clint Dempsey7 goalsGolden Glove Brad GuzanYoung Player Award Jesús CoronaFair Play Trophy Team of the Tournament The following team was selected as the Team of the Tournament by Bleacher Report:
GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards Brad Guzan Kemar Lawrence Román Torres Sheldon Bateau Paul Aguilar Andrés Guardado Jonathan dos Santos Rodolph Austin Garath McCleary Clint Dempsey Kenwyne Jones
Prize money The total amount of prize money offered by CONCACAF for the tournament was US$2.75 million, with $1 million being the top prize. Listed below is a breakdown of how the total amount was distributed:
$100k – To each team eliminated in the group stage (4 teams) $125k – To each team eliminated in the quarter-finals (4 teams) $150k – Fourth placed team $200k – Third placed team $500k – Runners-up $1 mil – Winners
Qualification for international tournaments The 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup was used for qualification for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, played in Russia, and the Copa América Centenario, played in the United States in 2016.
FIFA Confederations Cup
As winners of the 2015 Gold Cup, Mexico qualified for a one-off play-off match against the United States, the winners of the 2013 Gold Cup, to decide which team would represent CONCACAF at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. Mexico won the match 3–2 after extra time.
Copa América Centenario
In addition, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, and Cuba, being the top four teams in the tournament not already qualified, qualified for the play-offs which determined the remaining two teams to participate in the Copa América Centenario in 2016. The United States, Mexico, Costa Rica (winners of the 2014 Copa Centroamericana), and Jamaica (winners of the 2014 Caribbean Cup) had already qualified before the tournament, with Panama and Haiti rounding out the six representatives CONCACAF sent to the Copa América following their play-off victories over Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago, respectively.
Marketing Broadcasting rights
Multiple officials of Traffic Sports were identified in the 2015 FIFA corruption case, which alleged that bribes related to the 2015 Gold Cup amounted to two-thirds of the cost of staging the tournament.
Worldwide TV broadcasting rights
Country/Region Broadcaster Notes Setanta Sports ESPN Azerbaijan SporTV Sportsnet World, Sportsnet 360, Univision Canada Simsub via Fox LeTV Repretel, Teletica Telecorporacion Salvadoreña Ma Chaîne Sport (MCS) Canal 3 and Canal 7 Televicentro iCable Indonesia Latin America Gol TV Astro Televisa, TV Azteca Middle East and North Africa Abu Dhabi Sports ChannelFox Sports TV Nacional de Panamá, Medcom Sport TV Starhub beIN Sports, Mediapro Sub-Saharan Africa Supersport Sportcast Grammy BT Sport,Setanta Sports (ROI only) Bet365 (online streaming) Fox (English) Univision (Spanish)
Symbols
Music "You Are Unstoppable" by Austrian singer Conchita Wurst was the official anthem for the tournament.
"All the Way" by Reykon featuring Bebe Rexha was used for Univision's coverage of the tournament.
Awolnation's "I Am" was used for Fox's coverage.
Controversies
Jamaican players' strike On July 6, the Jamaica national team refused to attend a 7 pm practice session at the StubHub Center because of a strike over bonus fees. The next day, Jamaica Football Federation president Horace Burrell announced the situation had been "settled", and thanked the players for backing down.
Cuban defections Cuba forward Keiler García defected to the United States in Chicago on July 8, the day before his team's opening match against Mexico at Soldier Field. He did not show up for the team breakfast in the hotel and was absent from the subsequent training session. Because of problems obtaining US visas for players and staff, and the defection of García, Cuba only had sixteen players available for their opener. Arael Argüellez also defected in Chicago after being visited in the hotel by friends, failing to turn up for the national team's flight to Phoenix for their second match against Trinidad and Tobago.
On July 14, Darío Suárez did not return from his trip to a supermarket prior to Cuba's match against Guatemala in Charlotte. Later the same day, midfielder Ariel Martínez was reported in tears on the team bus returning to the hotel following Cuba's 1–0 victory, which qualified them for the quarter-finals. Upon arrival, Martínez reportedly exited the bus, said goodbye to the coach, and then ran off into the night.
Cuban US visa issues Cuba's opening match against Mexico was affected by United States visa issues. Cuba head coach Raúl González and six players (Adrián Diz, Arichel Hernandez, Daniel Luis, Andy Vaquero, Maikel Reyes and Sandy Sánchez) were unable to enter the United States before the match, which took place on the third day of the competition. They had all recently been involved in the 2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship qualification tournament in Antigua and Barbuda, and it had caused some administration issues. Arichel Hernández ended up not entering the United States at all due to the visa problems.
Controversial refereeing Mexico vs Costa Rica