Why Is Saudi Arabia Playing In the Gold Cup?

The United States men's national team's next opponent at the Concacaf Gold Cup isn't one of its usual foes — it's not even a country from the same region.

It's Saudi Arabia, which pulled off one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history at Qatar 2022, when it beat Lionel Messi and eventual champions Argentina 2-1 in the group stage.

But why is Saudi Arabia playing in the Concacaf Gold Cup? Here's everything you need to know about the U.S. men's next challenge:

The Concacaf Gold Cup has a rich history of inviting countries from outside the North American, Central American and Caribbean regions, dating back to 1996, when Brazil competed as a guest two years after it won the World Cup at USA 1994. Despite its international prowess at the time, Brazil didn't win the Gold Cup in 1996 — in fact, no guest nation has ever won the tournament.

Concacaf took a 16-year break from inviting teams to compete in the Gold Cup, but the tradition resumed in 2021 with Qatar as part of a partnership between Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that was established in 2018. Saudi Arabia, which is also part of the AFC, is competing in this year's tournament as well as the 2027 edition.

In total, eight nations have participated in the Gold Cup as a guest team: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and South Korea. Brazil (1996 and 2003) and Colombia (2000) have each finished as the runner-up in the tournament.

In what has been referred to as the most shocking result in World Cup history, Saudi Arabia beat Argentina 2-1 in its group stage opener. At the time, Saudi Arabia was ranked 51st in the world by FIFA, while Argentina was ranked third and entered the tournament on a 36-match unbeaten streak.

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