The regional competition was born in 1938, in Panama City, with the founding of the Confederación Centroamericana y del Caribe de Fútbol (English: Central American and Caribbean Football Confederation), but the outbreak of the Second World War, a year later, prevented the first championship from taking place.

[1] In the II Central American and Caribbean Football Championship, held in December 1943 at the Estadio Jorge "El Mágico" González in San Salvador.

Jaime Meza, like his brother Fello did in 1941, obtained this time the title of top scorer of the championship, with 11 points; while Manuel Cantillo was declared the goalkeeper with the fewest defeats, with eight goals in five matches.

These results gave Costa Rica - in March 1953 - its fourth Central American and Caribbean football title, with which it regained the crown lost two years earlier in Panama.

The next tournament was held at the National Stadium in Tegucigalpa, from August 14 to 28, 1955, and was quite an event, since Guatemala withdrew after the incidents in the match against Costa Rica; the organizing committee first decided to award 2 points to all teams even though they had to play against Guatemala (Cuba, Honduras and Aruba) but following a protest from Curaçao and consultation with FIFA, it was decided on August 25 to annul all their results.

Costa Rica regained the championship title that it had lost in 1957, due to its absence from the tournament in Willemstad, Curaçao, and which on that occasion was passed on to Haiti.

The championship was played on that occasion in a single round, all against all, with the participation of Dutch Guiana, Honduras, the Netherlands Antilles, Costa Rica and the host country, Cuba, which was going through times of turmoil due to the recent revolutionary events of 1959, led by Fidel Castro.

No one was spared from Costa Rica's artillery during the 10th Central American and Caribbean Football Championship, held in San José in March 1961.

The Costa Rican team's performance, which earned them the title of the last Central American and Caribbean Championship held, was led by Juan Ulloa, author of ten victories in the competition.