The regional soccer body of CONCACAF has revealed details for its new & exciting senior women’s national team competitions taking place from 2021 through 2024.
This new calendar prioritizes providing more official match dates for all CONCACAF region women’s senior national teams and ensuring there is elite competition to showcase the highest level of women’s international football in the Confederation.
The introduction of two major women’s tournaments which are CONCACAF W Championship and CONCACAF W Gold Cup will serve as the regional qualifiers for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup as well as the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
How?
The first phase of this new women’s national team ecosystem begins in November 2021, with the CONCACAF W Qualifiers which will include 30 CONCACAF nations and serve as qualification matches for the W Championship which takes place in 2022, thus beginning the Road to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023, as it will serve as the regional qualifiers for all competing nations.
The draw for the Concacaf W Qualifiers takes place on Saturday, August 21 at 3:00 pm ET.
The new Concacaf W Qualifiers are scheduled to take place during the FIFA Women’s Match Windows of November 2021 and April 2022 and will serve as the preliminary round of the 2022 Concacaf W Championship.
The 30 CONCACAF Member Associations participating will be divided into six groups of five.
The top finisher in each of the groups will advance to the CONCACAF W Championship, joining the top two ranked CONCACAF nations (USA and Canada) who receive a bye straight to the W Championship.
The Concacaf W Championship, will take place in 2022 and will serve as the Confederation’s Qualifier to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 and the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games.
The 8 participating nations, including the USA and Canada, and the six winners from CONCACAF W qualifiers group, will be divided into two groups of four.
The top two finishers in each group will qualify for the competition’s semifinals and guarantee their place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023.
The third-place finishers of the groups will advance to a FIFA Women’s World Cup intercontinental play-off.
The winning nation will guarantee its place in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games Women’s Football Tournament and the 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup, taking the regional first slot.
The runner-up and the third place will progress to a CONCACAF Olympic play-in series to be played in September of 2023. The winner of the play-in will also guarantee their place in Paris and the W Gold Cup, grabbing the second slot.
The road to the first-ever CONCACAF W Gold Cup will begin after the 2023 FIFA World Cup with 33 CONCACAF national teams (excluding the two who will compete in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games), will be split into groups within three leagues according to their CONCACAF Women’s Ranking as follows:
- League A: Top nine ranked nations divided into three groups of three teams
- League B: Next 12 best-ranked teams divided into three groups of four teams
- League C: Lowest ranked 12 teams divided into three groups of four teams
The top finishers in each of the League A groups will qualify for the 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup Group Stage.
The second-place finishers in each of the League A groups and the first-place finishers in each of the League B groups will advance to a W Gold Cup Play-in, scheduled for April of 2023.
The three play-in winners will also qualify for the Concacaf W Gold Cup Group Stage.
The inaugural edition of the Concacaf W Gold Cup will take place in the summer of 2024 and will consist of 12 teams split into three groups of four.
The 12 participating nations will be determined as follows:
- Winner of the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship
- Winner of the CONCACAF Olympic Play-in
- Three League A Group winners of the Road to CONCACAF W Gold Cup
- Three winners of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup play-in
- Four guest nations from other Confederations
The group winners, runners-up, and the two best third-place finishers will qualify for the knockout stage which will consist of quarterfinals, semi-finals, and a final, where the W Gold Cup champion will be crowned.
This will cap off a 4-year cycle where teams from the region will have competed in a minimum of 195 official matches, which represents 118% increase in comparison to the previous four-year cycle.
The tournaments are aimed at expanding women’s soccer at the national team level and also to create more opportunities for elite competition in the region and inspire the next generation of women and girls in our region to develop a passion for football.
MOLATsportgist 