MIAMI, Florida — The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) today announced that the CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying Championship 2015 will be played in the United States from October 1-13 of this year.

The Olympic Qualifying Championship 2015 — an Under-23 competition — will send two teams directly to the Olympic Football Tournament Rio 2016, with a third nation earning the right to face South American Olympic qualifying runner-up Colombia in a play-off for one additional spot in Rio.

All participating nations will be hoping to replicate the success of the Confederation at the 2012 London Olympic Games, where CONCACAF nation Mexico took home the gold medal from the men’s football competition.

“The Olympic Qualifying Championship provides an ideal stage for CONCACAF nations to demonstrate the bright future the Confederation holds on the field,” said CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb. “We look forward to some great football as the competing nations strive to match our historic Olympic performances three years ago in England, from Honduras and of course Mexico — 2012 Olympic Champion.”

This year’s tournament will feature eight nations divided into two groups of four, with the top-two finishers in each group after round-robin play advancing to the semi-finals. Host venues and ticketing information for the competition will be announced in the near future.

“We are looking forward to hosting the Olympic Qualifying Championship and showcasing the quality of soccer in the region,” said US Soccer President Sunil Gulati.

The 2015 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship will include host USA, as well as North American automatic qualifiers Canada and Mexico. Those three countries will be joined by three nations from the Central American region and two from the Caribbean, with qualifiers in those regions to be disputed in coming months.