Central American Football Union

The Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol (Central American Football Union), more commonly known by the acronym UNCAF, represents the national football teams of Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Its member associations are part of CONCACAF.

Central American Football Union
Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol
AbbreviationUNCAF
Formation1990[1]
TypeSports organization
Membership
7 national associations
Rafael Tinoco
Websiteuncafut.com (archived)

Member associations edit

Member associations
Code Association
BLZ   Belize
CRC   Costa Rica
SLV   El Salvador
GUA   Guatemala
HON   Honduras
NCA   Nicaragua
PAN   Panama
 
Older logo

Competitions edit

Overview edit

The UNCAF organize various competitions. The Copa Centroamericana was played every two years from 1991 until 2017, and usually featured the seven national teams. Costa Rica is the most successful team, winning the tournament eight times. Honduras won the tournament four times while Guatemala and Panama won once each. This tournament usually ran as a qualification round for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The UNCAF also ran the Copa Interclubes UNCAF, a competition for the champions and runners-up of the domestic leagues of the UNCAF members; C.D. Motagua (Honduras) was the last champion (2007). Similarly to the Copa Centroamericana, this competition qualified three teams to the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. As it expanded into the CONCACAF Champions League in 2008, all of the Central American nations have at least one team and the Copa Interclubes UNCAF was disbanded.

National teams edit

Club teams edit

UNCAF runs several competitions which cover men's, women's, youth and futsal.

Current title holders edit

Competition Year Champions Title Runners-up Next edition Dates
National teams
Copa Centroamericana 2017   Honduras 4th   Panama TBA
U-23 Tournament 2015   Honduras Unknown Unknown TBA
U-20 Tournament 2022   Costa Rica 1st   El Salvador 2024 19-25 January
U-18 Tournament 2019   Costa Rica Unknown Unknown TBA
U-17 Tournament 2016   Costa Rica Unknown   Honduras TBA
U-16 Tournament 2022   Honduras 1st   Mexico TBA
U-15 Tournament 2023   Guatemala Unknown   Costa Rica TBA
Futsal Tournament 2016   Guatemala Unknown   Panama TBA
Futsal U20 Tournament 2022   Nicaragua 1st   Costa Rica TBA
Beach Soccer Cup 2018   El Salvador Unknown   Panama TBA
National teams (women)
Women's Copa Centroamericana 2018   Costa Rica Unknown   Panama TBA
Women's U-20 Tournament 2023   El Salvador 1st   Panama TBA
Women's U-17 Tournament 2017   Costa Rica Unknown   Panama TBA
Women's U-16 Tournament 2023   Costa Rica Unknown   Panama TBA
Club teams
Interclub Cup / Central American Cup 2007   Motagua 1st   Saprissa 2023 1 August – 7 December
U-17 Interclub Cup 2022   Plaza Amador 1st   AFFI Academia TBD
Club teams (women)
Women's Interclub Championship 2022   Liga Deportiva Alajuelense   Saprissa 2023 10–16 September

Major tournament records edit

National teams appearances in international tournaments edit

National team World Cup Women's World Cup Gold Cup Women's Championship Concacaf W Gold Cup
  Costa Rica 5 2 11 2 1
  Honduras 3 0 11 0 0
  El Salvador 2 0 8 1 1
  Guatemala 0 0 9 1 0
  Panama 1 1 8 2 1
  Belize 0 0 1 0 0
  Nicaragua 0 0 2 0 0

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Digicel and the Central American Union of Football (UNCAF) launch the Copa de Naciones Digicel 2009". Digicel Football. 11 December 2008. Archived from the original on 8 April 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2013.

External links edit