The 2021 CONCACAF Futsal Championship was the 7th edition of the CONCACAF Futsal Championship, the quadrennial international futsal championship organised by CONCACAF for the men's national teams of the North, Central American and Caribbean region. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Guatemala City, Guatemala between 1–10 May 2020.[1] However, on 19 March 2020, CONCACAF announced the decision to postpone the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] On 11 February 2021, CONCACAF confirmed Guatemala as host and that the dates are going to be May 3–9, 2021.
The 41 CONCACAF teams were ranked based on the CONCACAF Futsal Ranking as of February 2020.[5] A total of 20 teams originally entered the tournament. The highest-ranked 12 entrants would have advanced directly to the group stage of the final tournament, while the lowest-ranked eight entrants would have had to participate in the qualifying stage, where winners of the four matchups (played as two-game series) would have advanced to the group stage of the final tournament.[6]
On 11 February 2021, CONCACAF announced that a total of 16 teams were going to play in the tournament.[7] On 12 April 2021, CONCACAF announced that only 13 teams were going to play in the tournament.[8]
^ abcdefNon-FIFA members and thus ineligible to play in World Cup.
Venues
The matches were played at the Domo Polideportivo de la CDAG in Guatemala City. Before the postponement of the tournament, matches were originally also to be played at the Teodoro Palacios Flores Gymnasium.[1]
The draw for the group stage took place on 20 February 2020, 14:00 EST (UTC−5), at the CONCACAF Headquarters in Miami.[6] The 16 teams, which included the 12 which entered the group stage and the four qualifying stage matchups winners, were drawn into four groups of four teams. Based on the CONCACAF Futsal Ranking, the 12 teams which entered the group stage were distributed into three pots, with teams in Pot 1 assigned to each group prior to the draw, as follows:[9]
The qualifying stage matchups were determined based on the CONCACAF Futsal Ranking, with the highest-ranked team playing the lowest-ranked team, etc. The qualifying stage winners 1, 2, 3 and 4 were then placed in groups A, B, C and D respectively.
Original draw
The original draw results involving the 20 teams were as follows:[10]
Following the withdrawals of Sint Maarten, Curaçao, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Puerto Rico, only 16 teams were left, so the qualifying stage was no longer necessary, and the 16 remaining teams were placed in the four groups as before as there were four teams in each group.[7] Following the withdrawals of Guadeloupe, Martinique, and French Guiana, only 13 teams were left, and as there were only two teams left in Group A, to ensure that each group had a minimum of three teams, Dominican Republic were moved from Group C to Group A.[8]
Match officials
The list of match officials were announced on 20 April 2021.[11]
