[1] Mexico won the competition after surviving both the quarter-finals and semi-finals in controversial circumstances,[2][3][4][5][6] defeating Jamaica—the first Caribbean nation to reach such a stage—in the final.

[7] Of the co-hosts, Canada was eliminated in the group stage, while the United States, the defending champions, lost in the semi-finals to Jamaica.

[12] Costa Rica (16) Mexico (20) United States (28) Trinidad and Tobago (54) Panama (56) Haiti (68) Jamaica (71) Honduras (72) Guatemala (73) Cuba (79) El Salvador (93) Canada (110) The composition of the groups and the schedule of the tournament were announced by CONCACAF on March 12, 2015.

Multiple officials of Traffic Sports were identified in the 2015 FIFA corruption case, which alleged that bribes related to the 2015 Gold Cup amounted to two-thirds of the cost of staging the tournament.

[20] Worldwide TV broadcasting rights[21] "You Are Unstoppable" by Austrian singer Conchita Wurst was the official anthem for the tournament.

On July 6, the Jamaica national football team refused to attend a 7pm practice session at the StubHub Center because of a strike over bonus fees.

[26] The next day, Jamaica Football Federation president Horace Burrell announced the situation had been "settled" and thanked the players for backing down.

[27] Cuban attacker Keiler García defected to the United States in Chicago on July 8, the day before his team's opening game against Mexico at Soldier Field.

[31] Later the same day, midfielder Ariel Martínez was reported in tears on the bus returning to the hotel following the 1–0 victory over Guatemala to qualify for the quarter-final stage.

The head coach Raúl González Triana and six players (Adrián Diz, Arichel Hernandez, Daniel Luis, Andy Vaquero, Maikel Reyes and Sandy Sánchez) were unable to enter the United States before the match against Mexico which took place on the third day of the competition.

They had all recently been involved in the 2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship qualification tournament in Antigua and Barbuda and it had caused some administration issues.

[34] Daniel Jiménez of La Nación described the elimination as "a theft",[35] although Costa Rica's coach defended the call saying "he [the referee] is human.

[37] In an interview conceded to Prensa Libre on July 23, Wálter López admitted that the call was mistaken, alleging that "due to my position on the field, I was unable to properly see the action.

The decision to award the penalty kick outraged the Panama team who walked off the field and threatened to abandon the match.

"[49] On July 23, the Football Associations from both Panama and Costa Rica released their respective statements on their websites regarding such controversies, and requesting the removal of the CONCACAF referees committee members.

[50][51] On July 24, the CONCACAF Disciplinary Committee suspended the Panamanian goalkeeper Jaime Penedo for two matches for insulting the referee.

On top of missing the third-place game because of the red card, forward Luis Tejada was given an additional one match suspension for insulting the referee.