Why Qatar is in the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Explained

Updated: Sep 10, 5:00pm UTC

With the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup just days away, fans are starting to take a closer look at this year's field. One team that sticks out from the participant list is Qatar, which plays in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) instead of CONCACAF.

While Qatar's inclusion may appear strange, the explanation is quite simple.

Why is Qatar in the 2023 Gold Cup?

On Sept. 4, 2020, CONCACAF announced that Qatar would be a guest team for both the 2021 Gold Cup and the 2023 event. CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), where Qatar hails from, have a strong history of working together on various soccer initiatives, and the Maroons' invite to the Gold Cup was just the latest of these collaborations.

Qatar's inclusion in the 2021 Gold Cup marked the first time since 2005 that a country outside of CONCACAF participated in the tournament. The six other guest nations to play in the Gold Cup are Brazil (1996, 1998, 2003), Colombia (2000, 2003, 2005), Peru (2000), Ecuador (2002), South Africa (2005) and South Korea (2000, 2002).

Qatar fared extremely well in its Gold Cup debut in 2021, making it all the way to the semifinals. The Maroons won Group D -- going 2-1-0 during the opening round -- and won 3-2 over El Salvador in the Knockout Stage. Qatar's run came to an end in the semis against the United States, who won 1-0 and went on to be crowned 2021 Gold Cup champions.

This year, Qatar is part of Group B along with Mexico, Haiti and Honduras. The Maroons open the 2023 Gold Cup against Haiti on Sunday, June 25.

Check out more Gold Cup coverage from The Duel:

Isaiah De Los Santos is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Isaiah De Los Santos also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username zayyy05328. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.