MIAMI: CONCACAF will not necessary be represented, at the 2017 Confederations Cup, by the Central and North American region’s champion writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

The Confed Cup, a warm-up tournament for the following year’s World Cup – in Russia in 2018 – is supposed to match the various champions of the six international football regions. That means Mexico at this year’s Confed Cup in Brazil.

However, because the CONCACAF championship, the Gold Cup, is staged every two years, the authority had decided that the ‘inbetween’ champions should also have an opportunity to go to the Confed Cup.

Thus CONCACAF’s representatives at the 2017 event will be determined by a playoff between the winners of the next two Gold Cups.

President Jeffrey Webb said: “This innovative resolution will allow the champion of every single Gold Cup edition to have the same competitive opportunity to represent CONCACAF at the international level.”

The 2013 Gold Cup winners will qualify for a playoff against the 2015 champions. If the same nation wins both tournaments they will qualify for the 2017 Confederations Cup.

The 2013 Gold Cup will be held in 13 cities across the United States from July 7-28, with the final at Chicago’s Soldier Field.

Mexico and the U.S. have clashed in the last three Gold Cup finals with the Mexicans winning the last two.

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