The 1981 CONCACAF Championship, the eighth edition of the CONCACAF Championship, was held in Honduras from 1 to 22 November. All games were played in the Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino in Tegucigalpa. This tournament was won by the host, Honduras, who earned their first title and secured for the first time a place in the FIFA World Cup, as the tournament also served as qualification to Spain 1982. The North, Central American and Caribbean zone was allocated two places (out of 24) in the final tournament. This edition was marked by an upset as Mexico, traditional CONCACAF heavyweights and needing a win to go through, were eliminated by Honduras. The 0–0 tie between Mexico and Honduras qualified El Salvador to participate in the World Cup as the CONCACAF runners-up. El Salvador also became the first Central American team to qualify for more than one World Cup. This would be the last tournament which would feature a host nation for the final round.
Venues
Qualification
Final round
Honduras and El Salvador qualified for the 1982 FIFA World Cup.
Goalscorers
3 goals
Hugo Sánchez
2 goals
Ian Bridge
Mike Stojanović
Ramón Núñez
David Buezo
José Roberto Figueroa
Ricardo Castro
1 goal
Bob Iarusci
Wes McLeod
Jorge Luis Rodríguez
Ever Hernández
Norberto Huezo
Daniel Cadet
Gerald Romulas
Anthony Costly
Carlos Orlando Caballero
Eduardo Laing
Jorge Elvir Urquia
Manuel Manzo
1 own goal
Frantz Mathieu (playing against Cuba)
Notes
To date, this is the last time that Mexico failed to qualify for a FIFA World Cup. (Mexico did not appear in the 1990 FIFA World Cup as they were banned in light of a scandal in which they used overage players in a youth tournament.)