Ahead of Thursday's draw, GOAL breaks down all 16 teams participating in CONCACAF Gold Cup 2025

The CONCACAF Gold Cup returns this summer for its 18th edition, with matches set to take place across the United States and Canada. Sixteen teams will battle for the title from June 14 to July 6, with games played in 11 cities and 12 stadiums across the two countries. Overall, 15 CONCACAF nations will compete, joined by invited guest Saudi Arabia.

The tournament kicks off with a 16-team group stage, featuring four groups of four. The top two teams from each group – eight total – will advance to the knockout stage. From there, the competition shifts to a single-elimination format, with the winner of each match progressing to the next round.

Teams qualified for the tournament based on their performances in the 2024–25 CONCACAF Nations League and the 2025 Gold Cup Prelims.

Key Dates:

Group Stage: June 14–24

Quarterfinals: June 28–29

Semifinals: July 2

Final: July 6

The Group Stage draw will take place Thursday at 7 p.m. ET, streamed live on the CONCACAF YouTube channel. The draw will use a double-blind system with eight pots. Pots 1–4 contain the participating teams, while Pots 5–8 represent Groups A–D.

Pot 1: Mexico, Canada, Panama, United States

Pot 2: Costa Rica, Jamaica, Honduras, Haiti

Pot 3: Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago, El Salvador, Suriname

Pot 4: Guadeloupe, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Saudi Arabia

Ahead of the draw, GOAL looks at every team in the field.

Getty ImagesUSMNT

In the modern-day Gold Cup, the U.S. are the second most successful team, only trailing Mexico in terms of titles with seven wins to El Tri's nine. They have qualified for every edition of the competition since 1991, and were named champions as recent as 2021.

In the 2023 edition, the U.S. took fourth place; only their second result seeing them finish outside the top-three of the tournament – they finished fourth in 2015 as well.

Under manager Mauricio Pochettino, the U.S. will look to forget their last month's poor CONCACAF Nations League showing, and enter the Gold Cup with an intention to march to the final. Led by AC Milan star Christian Pulisic, the USMNT hope to return to winning ways as they prepare to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportMexico

The winningest team in Gold Cup history, will look to return to the top in the Gold Cup this summer after a brilliant Nations League showing last month that saw them clinch the title for the first time in their history. They have won the competition nine times since 1991.

Champions in both 2019 and 2023, their most recent showing included shutting out the opposition all throughout the knockout stages in an absolutely dominant run. Across six matches, they conceded just one goal en route to lifting the trophy.

Led by star striker duo Santiago Gimenez and Raul Jimenez, Mexico will look to light up the Gold Cup with their explosive attack this summer.

Getty Images SportCanada

Jesse Marsch's men will be searching for their first Gold Cup title since 2000 – their lone win in 16 appearances at the tournament.

have taken massive steps forward in recent years as a program, and are now viewed as a contender to lift the trophy as a result. Third-place finishers in the Nations League in March, they defeated the U.S. and are looking to build off that momentum this summer.

Star defender Alphonso Davies will miss the competition due to a torn ACL, but they will be led by Lille star Jonathan David in the attack as they look to reassert themselves atop CONCACAF.

AFPSaudi Arabia

Invited as the guest nation for the 2025 edition of the Gold Cup, Saudi Arabia will look to build on a promising start to their 2026 AFC World Cup qualifying campaign by playing some much-needed competitive games against unfamiliar opposition.

Sitting third in Group C on 10 points in their WCQ group – they're in pole position to compete for an automatic berth with Australia, who sit second on 13 points but are also in contention for an AFC Playoff spot if they remain in third.

Led by striker Saleh Al-Shehri and forward Salem Al-Dawsari, they'll look to turn heads at this summer's tournament.