1976 CONCACAF Pre-Olympic Tournament

The 1976 CONCACAF Pre-Olympic Tournament was the fourth edition of the CONCACAF Pre-Olympic Tournament, the quadrennial, international football tournament organised by the CONCACAF to determine which national teams from the North, Central America and Caribbean region qualify for the Olympic football tournament.^[1]

1976 CONCACAF Pre-Olympic Tournament

Tournament details
Dates	1–11 March
Teams	3 (from 1 confederation)
Final positions
Champions	Mexico (3rd title)
Runners-up	Guatemala
Third place	Cuba
Tournament statistics
Matches played	6
Top scorer(s)	Hugo Sánchez (4 goals)
← 1972 1980 →

Mexico successfully defended their title, and qualified for the 1976 Summer Olympics together with runners-up Guatemala and the host nation, Canada, as representatives of CONCACAF. Cuba was invited after the withdrawal of Uruguay, the refusal of Argentina and Colombia to replace them.^[2][3]

Qualification

Further information: 1976 CONCACAF Pre-Olympic Tournament qualification

The three berths were allocated as follows:

• The four winners from the second round

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the final tournament.

Zone	Country	Method of qualification	Appearance1	Last appearance	Previous best performance	Previous Olympic appearances (last)
North America	Mexico (title holders)	Second round winners	3rd	1972	Winners (1964, 1972)	5 (1972)
Central America	Guatemala	Second round winners	3rd	1972	Final round winner without outright champions (1968)	1 (1968)
Caribbean	Cuba	Second round winners	1st	0 (debut)	Debutant	0

¹ Only final tournament.

Final round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mexico (C)	4	2	1	1	11	7	+4	5	Qualification to 1976 Summer Olympics
2	Guatemala	4	1	2	1	6	8	−2	4
3	Cuba	4	0	3	1	5	7	−2	3

Source: RSSSF
(C) Champions

Mexico	4–1	Guatemala

1 March 1976 (1976-03-01)

Estadio Nemesio Díez, Toluca

Mexico	4–2	Cuba

3 March 1976 (1976-03-03)

Toluca

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Guatemala	3–2	Mexico

5 March 1976 (1976-03-05)

Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores, Guatemala City

Guatemala	1–1	Cuba

7 March 1976 (1976-03-07)

Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores, Guatemala City

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Cuba	1–1	Mexico

9 March 1976 (1976-03-09)

Estadio Latinoamericano, Havana

Cuba	1–1	Guatemala

11 March 1976 (1976-03-11)

Estadio Latinoamericano, Havana

Qualified teams for the Summer Olympics

The following four teams from CONCACAF qualified for the 1976 Summer Olympics, including Canada which qualified as the hosts.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in the Summer Olympics2
Canada	12 May 1970	1 (1904)
Mexico	11 March 1976	5 (1928, 1948, 1964, 1968, 1972)
Guatemala	11 March 1976	1 (1968)
Cuba	July 1976	0 (debut)

² Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

References

1. "About". CONCACAF. Archived from the original on 2021-06-28. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
2. "A 44 años de la participación de la Selección de Guatemala en los JJOO de Montreal". Guatefutbol.com. 19 July 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-10-01.
3. "Cuba sustituye a Uruguay en fútbol". El País. 6 July 1976. Archived from the original on 2019-07-17.