CONCACAF Nations League

CONCACAF Nations League - an official national-team competition run by CONCACAF, built around league tiers with promotion and relegation and a finals stage. Regulations: the group stage is played across three leagues, League A comprises 16 teams with the top 4 in the confederation ranking pre-seeded to the quarter-finals and the next 12 drawn into two groups of six played in a Swiss-style format of four matches per team (two home and two away), League B comprises 16 teams in four groups of four in a home-and-away round-robin format, and League C comprises nine teams in three groups of three in a home-and-away round-robin format. Group standings are decided by points, then goal difference and goals scored, followed by head-to-head criteria and additional tie-breakers including away goals in matches between the tied teams, disciplinary points and drawing of lots. The first and second placed teams in League A qualify for the quarter-finals to join the four seeded teams, the quarter-finals are two-legged home and away and decided by aggregate score, if level away goals are used with a double weighting and then extra time is played at the end of the second leg followed by penalties if still level, the quarter-final winners advance to the Finals consisting of semi-finals, a third-place match and the final at a centralized venue, with extra time and then penalties if required. Promotion and relegation are applied after the group stage, with the 5th and 6th placed League A teams relegated to League B, League B group winners promoted to League A and 4th placed League B teams relegated to League C, while League C promotes its three group winners plus the best runner-up, and an additional play-in stage between League A and League C teams is played over two legs for allocation into CONCACAF qualifying pathways.