{"id":1930,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/1930","headline":"Gold Cup ditches four groups for two starting in 2027","dek":"CONCACAF is restructuring its marquee tournament into two groups of eight teams, moving away from the long-standing four-group setup.","body":"CONCACAF announced Thursday that the Gold Cup will switch to a two-group format starting with its next edition in 2027, ending the sixteen-team, four-group structure that had been in place through last year's tournament.\n\nUnder the old setup, sixteen national teams were split into four groups of four, with the top two finishers in each group moving on to the quarterfinals. The new structure instead divides the field into two groups of eight teams, including the United States and Mexico, though CONCACAF did not detail how advancement out of those larger groups will work.\n\nThe change marks a notable shift in how the region's top soccer nations will open their path toward the knockout rounds. For fans used to the familiar four-group format, the move to two larger pools means more games within each group before the field narrows.\n\nCONCACAF's announcement did not include further specifics on seeding or qualification changes tied to the new format.","published_at":"2026-11-05T22:49:59.635323+00:00","source_count":4,"written_from":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"CONCACAF changes the Gold Cup format to 2 groups of 8 teams starting in 2027","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/concacaf-changes-gold-cup-format-194611838.html"},{"outlet":"Fox Sports","publisher":"Fox Sports","title":"2027 Gold Cup Format Changes Will See USA, Mexico Part Of Two Groups Of 8 Teams","url":"https://www.foxsports.com/stories/soccer/concacaf-changes-the-gold-cup-format-to-2-groups-of-8-teams-starting-in-2027"},{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"Concacaf changes Gold Cup format, will feature two eight-team groups in 2027","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7756719/2026/11/05/concacaf-gold-cup-format-change/"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"New Gold Cup format features two groups of eight teams","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/gold-cup-format-features-two-170157259.html"},{"outlet":"CBS Sports","publisher":"CBS Sports","title":"USMNT's Gold Cup path to look different as Concacaf unveils revamped group-stage format","url":"https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/usmnts-gold-cup-concacaf-revamped-group-stage-format/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"🏆​ ¡Heads up! The 2027 Gold Cup will have a new format","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/heads-2027-gold-cup-format-220400278.html"}],"image":{"url":"https://s.yimg.com/lo/mysterio/api/b67e4f76f73312d21d6e57a0ecffd991c8b6d908d011a27bec7aec1d5de74926/lightyear_networkapi/resizefill_w1200_h675%3Bquality_80%3Bformat_webp/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Fap.org%2F4566f0cda413671734731b56b11817dc.jpg","credit":"Yahoo Sports","width":1200},"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}