Panama, ready to know their future at the 2023 Gold Cup

The group draw for the next CONCACAF Gold Cup will take place this Friday, April 14, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
The seventeenth edition of the Gold Cup is scheduled between June 16 and July 16, 2023.

SoFi Stadium, home of the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams, will host the competition’s grand finale on Sunday, July 16.
This Monday, CONCACAF announced the 15 locations where this year’s competition will take place. There are 15 stadiums in 14 cities in the United States and Canada.

It will be Panama’s eleventh appearance at the most important CONCACAF competition. The cast from Panama has 10 consecutive placings since their first runner-up finish in the 2005 edition.

The tournament organizers have confirmed that all technical directors of the qualified teams will be present to witness the draw.
Coach Thomas Christiansen and national team director Christian Núñez will be present for the national team. The Spanish-Danish tactician travels to the United States this Thursday to be involved in the draw.

Halls of the Golden Cup
CONCACAF announced this Monday, April 10, all the venues where the next Gold Cup 2023 will be played.
15 stadiums in 14 cities across the United States and Canada have been named.
Commenting on this exciting announcement of the 2023 Gold Cup, Concacaf President and FIFA Vice President Victor Montagliani said: “The Gold Cup is our flagship competition, showcasing the best of men’s national football in the region. With each upcoming edition, this competition has reached new heights on and off the pitch and I am confident that the 2023 tournament will deliver outstanding football and capture the imagination of fans across our confederation and beyond.”
“The cities and stadiums we have chosen have a history of hosting world and elite football events.”
“I look forward to watching the Gold Cup Prelims in June and enjoying some exciting football from all the Gold Cup teams all the way to the final and the crowning of the champions in Los Angeles on July 16.”

These are the 15 stadiums that will host Gold Cup matches (tournament venues in past editions)
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX (2009, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2021)
Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC (2011, 2015, 2019)
Soldier Field, Chicago, IL (2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019)
TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, OH (first time)
DRV PNK Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, FL (2021)
State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ (2009, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021)
Red Bull Arena, Harrison, NJ (2013, 2017, 2019)
NRG Stadium, Houston, TX (2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2019, 2021)
Shell Energy Stadium, Houston, TX (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021)
SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CA (first time)
Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV (2021)
Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, CA (first time)
Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, CA (2017)
CITYPARK, St. Louis, MO (first time)
BMO Field, Toronto, Canada (2015)

He qualified for the 2023 Gold Cup
At the moment, the tournament has 13 of the 16 teams already classified, all coming from the second edition of the League of Nations 2022/2023, plus the guest Qatar.
The other three places will come from the preliminary round, where 12 teams will be looking for the remaining tickets.
The 13 classified are: Canada, United States, Panama, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua and Qatar.
The Panama national team will be placed in Pot 2, while the four teams that are in Pot 1 as seeded according to the CONCACAF standings are Mexico, the United States, Costa Rica and Canada.

Qualification for the League of Nations
First places in League A: Canada, United States, Panama and Mexico.
Other places in League A: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Jamaica.
First places in League B: Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti and Nicaragua.

Golden Cup drawing procedures
The draw for the group stage of the Gold Cup 2023 will take place with eight drums.
Bowls 1 to 4 will contain the spheres with the names of the participating teams, and bowls 5 to 8 will contain the spheres of groups A, B, C and D.
Based on the CONCACAF men’s national team standings as of March 31, 2023, the 12 CONCACAF teams that have secured direct entry into the group stage of the tournament have been divided into groups 1-3, as follows (in order):
Pot 1 (top four ranked teams): Mexico, United States, Costa Rica and Canada.
Cup 2 (Next four best ranked teams): Panama, Haiti, Jamaica and Guatemala.
Group 3 (four lowest ranked teams): Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba and Nicaragua

The other four participants in the group stage, including the three preliminary winners, will be in pot 4 as follows:
Pot 4: Qatar, winner of 7 heats, winner of 8 heats and winner of 9 heats.

Furthermore, in accordance with the rules governing the draw, each of the teams in Group 1 will be pre-assigned to a group as follows:
Group A: United States (current champions)
Group B: Mexico (best placed national team)
Group C: Costa Rica (next best placed national team)
Group D: Canada (next best placed national team)

The draw for the group stage will begin by placing the seeded teams from Group 1 into their pre-allocated groups, using the pre-allocated group spheres from Group 5.

The draw will continue with bowl spheres 2 and determine each team’s group with bowl sphere 6. The same procedure will be repeated for all bowl spheres 3 and 4, using the group spheres of bowl 7 and 8 respectively.
After all teams have been assigned to a group, the draw will be completed.