On 16 September 2021, a new format was announced: the sixteen member associations ranked 1st to 16th would qualify for the group stage while the remaining nineteen member associations (all ranked 17th and below in the CONCACAF men’s under-20 rankings) would have to play in the 2022 CONCACAF U-20 Championship qualifying tournament to qualify for the knockout stage. The qualifying tournament took place from 5 to 13 November 2021 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.[2]
The United States were the defending champions of the competition, since they were the champions in the 2018 edition and the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] The United States once again successfully defended the title, defeating the biggest surprise of the tournament Dominican Republic 6–0 in the final for their third CONCACAF U-20 Championship title.
Twenty national teams participated in the tournament: the sixteen best ranked national teams (based on the CONCACAF men’s under-20 rankings), that qualified directly to the tournament, plus four national teams qualified through the 2021 CONCACAF U-20 Championship qualifying.[2]
Players born on or after 1 January 2003 were eligible to compete. Each team had to register a squad of 20 players, two of whom had to be goalkeepers.[6]
Draw
The draw for the tournament was held on 3 March 2022, 12:00 AST (UTC−4), at the CONCACAF Headquarters in Miami, Florida. The 16 teams which entered the group stage were drawn into four groups of four teams. Based on the CONCACAF Men's Under-20 Ranking, the 16 teams were distributed into four pots, with teams in Pot 1 assigned to each group prior to the draw, as follows:[7]
In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners.[6]
The champion team and the top team from each of the three CONCACAF zones, i.e., Caribbean (CFU), Central American (UNCAF), and North American (NAFU), qualified for the 2023 Pan American Games men's football tournament.[3]
The following four teams from CONCACAF qualified for the 2023 Pan American Games men's football tournament in Chile.[14]
2Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
Notes
At the end of the match between the United States and Costa Rica, violent and unsportsmanlike actions were reported. The Costa Rican Football Federation has been sanctioned with a fine and nine of its players were temporarily suspended due to infraction of the Competition Regulations and the FIFA Disciplinary Code. Likewise, one U.S. player was suspended and banned for the remainder of the competition.[15]
