Since its inception in 1991, the CONCACAF Gold Cup has been one of the biggest events in international soccer for teams based in the Caribbean, Central America, and North America. Up until 2017, the winner of the Gold Cup would get a seat at FIFA’s Confederations Cup, though the organization recently scrapped this in favor of intra-continental playoffs to get to the World Cup.

Even with these new changes, the Gold Cup is still the premier soccer event for the Western Hemisphere, and it’s the best chance for your favorite national soccer team to progress on the world stage – especially if your team is Mexico or the US.

Credit Where It’s Due

Mexico has absolutely dominated throughout the history of the Gold Cup, winning seven titles from 1991 to 2017. Only the United States has come close to matching them with five wins. In fact, there’s been only one year of the tournament with a champion other than one of these two teams.

That brings us to the story of the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup, in which Canada and Colombia went head-to-head for the win. The result: the only non-US or Mexico Gold Cup win in the history of the Gold Cup went to Canada in 2000. The team would go on to battle the Brazilians to a 0-0 draw in the first round of the 2001 Confederations Cup.

The Uncertain Future

The CONCACAF Gold Cup’s future may not be set in stone. The tournament is on the FIFA schedule for 2019, 2021, and 2023, but beyond that, the existence of the championship may be in danger. Part of that is due to the Confederations Cup getting mothballed in 2017, which means there’s no direct successor for the Gold Cup’s winner to feed into, despite its popularity.

In other words, the upcoming Gold Cup tournaments may be taking on some much bigger importance over the next few years. If you have the itch to get to a Gold Cup game while it’s still around, you’d be making a smart choice!