UNCAF Nations Cup
The Copa Centroamericana (Spanish for "Central American Cup") is the main association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol (UNCAF), the sport's Central American governing body. Held every two years since 1991, in the years before and after the FIFA World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UNCAF Nations Cup, changing to the current name in 2011.
The tournament consists of two stages. In the group round of the tournament finals, the seven teams competed in two round-robin groups, one of four teams and the other of three, for points, with the top two teams in each group proceeding. These four teams advanced to the semifinal stage of the final round, where the winners advance into the final while the losers dispute a third-place match. The fifth-place match is disputed between the third-ranked teams of the group stage. The top five teams of the tournament would go on to participate in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The 12 Central American Championship tournaments have been won by four different national teams: Costa Rica are the most successful national team of the competition with seven victories. Honduras have won three titles. Guatemala and Panama have won one title each. To date, Costa Rica and Honduras are the only sides in history to have won consecutive titles, with the former winning an unprecedented three titles in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
The most recent championship, hosted by Costa Rica, was won by the host nation who beat Honduras 1–0 at the final in San José. The next Central American Championship will be hosted in the United States.
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