1941 CCCF Championship
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country |  Costa Rica |
| Dates | 8–18 May |
| Teams | 5 |
| Venue(s) | Estadio Nacional, San José |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Costa Rica (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  El Salvador |
| Third place |  Curaçao |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 10 |
| Goals scored | 70 (7 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Fello Meza Hans Nahar (8 goals) |
1943 → | |
The 1941 CCCF Championship was the inaugural international association football championship for members of the Confederación Centroamericana y del Caribe de Fútbol (CCCF). Hosted by Costa Rica, the competition ran from 8–18 May 1941 and was contested by the national teams of Costa Rica, Curaçao, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Panama.
In the final match of the round-robin tournament, hosts Costa Rica were crowned champions as they completed a clean sweep by defeating El Salvador 3–1.
Background
[edit]The Confederación Centroamericana y del Caribe de Fútbol (CCCF) was founded in 1938. Along with the North American Football Confederation (NAFC), it was a precursor organisation to the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF). Within three years of its founding, the CCCF organised a contest for its member associations.[1][2]
Format
[edit]The tournament was played as a single round-robin where each team would play all of the others once. The winner would be decided by the total number of points obtained across all matches played.[3]
Participants
[edit]Squads
[edit]Referees
[edit]Two referees were used during the tournament:[4]
Jacobo de Foinquinos
José Tapia
Venue
[edit]All matches were held at the Estadio Nacional in San José.[3]
| San José |
|---|
| Estadio Nacional |
| Capacity: 25,000 |
 |
Summary
[edit]
The tournament began on 8 May 1941 when a Hans Nahar hat-trick looked to have sealed a win for Curaçao over Panama. However, a last-minute Antoine Neville penalty saw the match end 3–3. Two days later, a hat-trick from Jesús María Araya helped hosts Costa Rica to a 7–2 win against Nicaragua. The following day, El Salvador were held to a 2–2 by Curaçao who had been two goals down entering the last 20 minutes of the match. Costa Rica recorded their second win of the tournament, defeating Panama 7–0. Having played half their matches, Costa Rica sat top of the table with four points, two more than Curaçao and three ahead of El Salvador and Panama.[3]
On 13 May, Costa Rica extended their lead at the top of the table after a Fello Meza hat-trick helped them to a 6–2 win over Curaçao. Antonio Toledo also scored a hat-trick as El Salvador recorded the biggest win of the tournament, defeating Nicaragua 8–0. Two days later, El Salvador maintained their challenge for the trophy as they narrowly defeated Panama 4–3. In their final game, Nahar scored four times as Curaçao equalled the biggest win of the competition, defeating Nicaragua 9–1, to assure themselves of third place. With one round of matches left to play, Costa Rica held a one-point lead over El Salvador with the two due to play in the final match.[3]
Luis Carlos Rangel scored a hat-trick for Panama as they rounded off the competition with a 5–2 win against Nicaragua. In the final match, Jesús María Araya scored a brace as Costa Rica completed a clean sweep, winning all four of their matches, by defeating El Salvador 3–1.[3]
Table
[edit]| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Costa Rica (C) |
4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 5 | +18 | 8 |
| 2 | El Salvador |
4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 8 | +7 | 5 |
| 3 | Curaçao |
4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 12 | +4 | 4 |
| 4 |  Panama |
4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 16 | −5 | 3 |
| 5 |  Nicaragua |
4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 29 | −24 | 0 |
Results
[edit]| Nicaragua | 2–7 | Costa Rica |
|---|---|---|
|
[4] |
| El Salvador | 2–2 | Curaçao |
|---|---|---|
| [4] |
| Panama | 0–7 | Costa Rica |
|---|---|---|
| [4] |
| Costa Rica | 6–2 | Curaçao |
|---|---|---|
| [4] |
| Nicaragua | 0–8 | El Salvador |
|---|---|---|
| [4] |
| El Salvador | 4–3 | Panama |
|---|---|---|
| [4] |
|
| Costa Rica | 3–1 | El Salvador |
|---|---|---|
| [4] | Mendez  37' |
Goalscorers
[edit]There were 70 goals scored in 10 matches, for an average of 7 goals per match.
8 goals
7 goals
6 goals
5 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal
- Abraham Rocha (against Costa Rica)
- Humberto Martinez (against Costa Rica)
References
[edit]- ↑ Stokkermans, Karel (7 July 2025). "CCCF and Concacaf Championships". RSSSF. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
- ↑ "CONCACAF Gold Cup Competition". CONCACAF. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mendoza, Eduardo; Knight, Ken; Morrison, Neil (19 November 2020). "I C.C.C.F. (Confederación Centroamericana y del Caribe de Fútbol) Championship 1941". RSSSF. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Mendoza, Eduardo; Knight, Ken; Morrison, Neil (19 November 2020). "I C.C.C.F. Championship 1941 - Match Details". RSSSF. Retrieved 18 April 2026.