March 27 – The US will host the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship, to be played October 4-17. Venue for the 8-team championship have still to be decided.
The competition will serve as the CONCACAF qualifier for the 2019 Women’s World Cup in Russia. Played in two groups of four, the top two teams in each group will progress to the semi-finals.
The two finalists will qualify for France 2019 with the two losing semi-finalists playing off for the third spot at the World Cup. The loser of that third place play-off will go into an cross-confederation play-off with the third-place finisher of CONMEBOL’s 2018 Women’s Copa America. The winner of the playoff will qualify for France 2019.
“We’re thrilled to welcome top national women’s teams from our region as they strive to secure a spot in the FIFA Women’s World Cup,” said U.S. Soccer President Carlos Cordeiro. “The women’s game continues to grow across our region, and this event provides another opportunity for these athletes to compete at the very highest level.”
The US has won the tournament seven times and in 2014 beat Costa Rica 6-0 in the final of the tournament that was played in Washington DC, Chicago, Kansas City and Philadelphia.
The US, Mexico and Canada have already qualified for the finals and will start as favourites in October.
Final rounds of Caribbean qualifying will be July 21-29, and will see three teams through to the finals. Central American qualifying will be played in Nicaragua from July 6-10 and will see two teams through to the US event.
“CONCACAF has long been the home of the highest quality women’s football in the world, so we know fans across the region will be marking their calendars in October for this high-stakes championship,” said Concacaf General Secretary Philippe Moggio. “We’re looking forward to seeing the Championship play out in the United States, as well as the upcoming qualifying rounds of the competition, which in the spirit of access will involve an impressive amount of Caribbean and Central American nations which are currently focused on growing the women’s game at the highest levels.”
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