The CONCACAF Under-20 Championship is the second longest running international association football event in the North America, Central America and the Caribbean region, CONCACAF, and is the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

The tournament served solely to qualify the four allotments given to CONCACAF by FIFA for the U-20 World Cup.

The two group winners would secure a place in the final and the U-20 World Cup, the groups' second and third placed teams would compete in a repechage play-off to determine the qualifiers for the U-20 World Cup.

The number of guaranteed games per team was increased from 2 to 5 and the semi-final stage was removed.

A knockout stage was added, with the semi-finalists qualifying for the U-20 World Cup.