From 1998 to 2003 and again from 2015 to 2017, specific qualifying tournaments were held to determine the final one or two spots in the Gold Cup.

For the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Canada did not qualify automatically and competed in a round-robin playoff along with two Caribbean and one Central American nation.

For the 2015 and 2017 tournaments, the fifth Central American spot was awarded to the winner of a two-leg playoff featuring the 5th place teams from the Copa Centroamericana and the Caribbean Cup.

Held in 2018–19, the one-off CONCACAF Nations League qualifying tournament determined ten of the sixteen Gold Cup participants.

[4] All national teams that are members of CONCACAF are eligible to enter the qualification for the Gold Cup.

Due to political changes, one of the entity has appeared under one incarnation (see the footnotes to the below table), the Netherlands Antilles team is now defunct.