FMF and Concacaf announce Guadalajara as host of Olympics Qualifying tournament for the 2020 Tokyo games

Concacaf and the Federacion Mexicana de Futbol (FMF) announced that the Olympic qualifying tournament will take place in Guadalajara from March 20th to April 1st in 2020. The tournament will be played in the Estadio Jalisco and Estadio Akron. The tournament will give two spots for the Men’s tournament in the 2020 Summer Olympic games, which will be held in Tokyo. The draw will be made in a later date. Six of the eight teams in the tournament are known, as the last two spots will be determined in the Caribbean playoffs in September.

With the 2020 Olympic tournament returning to Guadalajara, it marks a return to Mexico of Concacaf tournaments. The last one was the 2013 U-20 Concacaf Tournament held in Puebla. The last time an Olympic qualifying tournament was held outside the United States, it was in Guadalajara in 2004. In that tournament Mexico and Costa Rica won the two Olympic berths, with Mexico doing so after defeating the United States in the semifinals by a 4-0 score.

The tournament will start on March 20th, but the venues and draw would be determined in a later date. The six teams that are already qualified are Mexico, the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras. The three North American teams qualified automatically, while the Central American teams went through a playoff. The last two spots will be determined in a one leg playoff between Caribbean teams. Saint Kitts and Nevis and the Dominican Republic will have a playoff for one spot, while the other will be played between Haiti and Barbados. The top ranked team will host the match. Mexico and Honduras have gotten both Concacaf spots for the Olympic games in the last two Summer Olympics, with Honduras going to three straight Olympic games. Honduras made it in 2004 in Guadalajara, where they last failed to get to Olympics after losing to Costa Rica in the semifinals.