Previously there were four groups of three teams during the group stage of the competition, each team played a minimum of two games and the previous format had a total of 20 matches. As from 2015 there will be two groups of six teams, each team will play a minimum of five games and the competition will have a total of 33 matches. CONCACAF stated that the new format would aid development and competition.[1]
The knockout phase, which included eight matches, consisted of four quarterfinals, two semifinals, a third-place playoff and a final, has been replaced with two playoff games and a final.
Draw
The draw took place on 8 December at the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Cortés, Honduras.[2]
On 2 December 2014, CONCACAF announced the procedure of the draw.[3] The 12 teams were divided into three differing pots:
Prior to the draw, hosts Honduras were assigned to position A1. The remaining teams in Pot 1 were drawn, alternating between groups A and B. Teams were assigned a position from Pot A (Group A) or Pot B (Group B). After all teams had been drawn from Pot 1, the draw proceeded (continuing to alternate between Groups A and B) to Pot 2, then Pot 3.[3]
Only players born on or after 1 January 1998 were eligible to play in the tournament. Each participating national association had to provide a provisional list of twenty to thirty players to CONCACAF thirty days before their first match. A final twenty-man selection had to be provided upon arrival in the venue.[4]
In the final stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner (no extra time was played).[4]
Playoff stage
The second-and third-place teams from each group were re-seeded by group stage results, with the best team facing the fourth-best team, and the second-best team facing the third-best team.
First match(es) will be played: 27 February 2015. Source: CONCACAF Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Because all four teams finished with the same number of points and not all of them faced each other, the first playoff tiebreaker used for reseeding was goal differential in all group matches. Because two teams were tied on goal differential, the No. 3 and 4 seeds were determined based on total goals scored in the tournament.[5] This resulted in both third-place teams being ranked ahead of both second-place teams.
