Final Round Table

Final Round 1961	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Costa Rica (C)	3	3	0	0	15	0	6
El Salvador	3	2	0	1	7	5	4
Honduras	3	1	0	2	3	8	2
Haiti	3	0	0	3	0	12	0

Note: (C) Champions.

Final Round Resuts

Final Round	CR	ELS	HON	HAI
Costa Rica	xxx	4-0	3-0	8-0
El Salvador		xxx	5-1	2-0
Honduras			xxx	2-0
Haiti				xxx

Note: All matches played in Costa Rica.

Qualifying Round Tables

Qualifying Round	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Group A
Costa Rica (Q)	4	4	0	0	17	4	8
Haiti (Q)	4	3	0	1	8	6	6
Guatemala	4	2	0	2	7	7	4
Panama	4	1	0	3	3	11	2
Cuba	4	0	0	4	2	9	0
Group B
El Salvador (Q)	3	2	1	0	11	2	5
Honduras (Q)	3	2	0	1	10	3	4
Nethrlands Antilles	3	1	1	1	4	5	3
Nicaragua	3	0	0	3	3	18	0

Note: (Q) Qualify for Final Round in Costa Rica.

Qualifying Group Results

Group A	CRC	Hai	Gua	Pan	Cub
Costa Rica	xxx	3-0	4-2	6-1
Haiti		xxx		3-1	2-1
Guatemala		1-3	xxx		2-0
Panama			0-2	xxx	1-0
Cuba	1-4				xxx
Group B	ELS	HON	NDA	NIC
El Salvador	xxx	1-0		10-2
Honduras		xxx	4-2
Netherlands Antilles	0-0		xxx	2-1
Nicaragua		0-6		xxx

Note: Matches played on a Home & Away Basis. Read across for Home Results and down for Away Results.

Report

Costa Rica emerged as the top Nation in Central American Soccer at the Central American Championship in 1961. Having won all their Qualifying Group Games against Haiti (3-0), Guatemala (4-2) and Panama (6-1) they proceeded to demolish the opposition at the Finals which they hosted, defeaing El Salvador (4-0), Honduras (3-0) and Haiti (8-0). El Salvador finished runners-up, Honduras third and Haiti fourth.

Qualfying Group A featured five teams, topped by Costa Rica, with Haiti also qualifying for the Final round, ahead of Guatemala, Panama and Cuba. Group B winners were El Salvador, who qualified along with Honduras, with Netherlands Antilles in third and Nicaragua in fourth. The tournament was not very competitive, with all matches going to form, and only one draw: Netherlands Antilles 0 Honduras 0.

About the Central American Championship

The Central American Championship is an annual Soccer Tournament featuring the National Teams of the UNCAF Region (Union de Centro-Americo de Futbol). In the early years of the Tournament it also featured Caribbean Nations before they formed their own Caribbean Cup in 1991. It was usually played in two Qualifying Groups before a Final Round in a Host Nation.

References

Images

[1] Fandom Logos (1992) Uncaf_logo [Internet] Available from: https://logos.fandom.com/wiki/UNCAF [Accessed 8 October 2020][Actual Logo Reference at: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/logopedia/images/4/49/Uncaf_logo.png/revision/latest?cb=20190305145929 [Accessed 8 October 2020]

Bibliography

[2] Anon. (1961) “Central American Championship” World Soccer. September 1961. Pg. 42

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Caroline Mitchell & Francesco

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 24 December 2020

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.