August 16 – The inaugural Concacaf W Champions Cup kicked off last night with Vancouver Whitecaps, following up on their national championship win last weekend, beating El Salvador’s Alianza FC 1-0 in the Preliminary Round at the Estadio Cuscaltan in San Salvador, El Salvador.
The winner was scored from the penalty spot by 17-year-old Emily Wong who will go into Concacaf history as the scorer of the first-ever goal of the W Champions Cup.
The Whitecaps now move into Group B where they will meet San Diego Wave FC and the Portland Thorns FC from the US, Mexico’s Club America Femenil, and Panama’s Santa Fe FC.
They play their first group game against Club América Femenil next Thursday, August 21, in Mexico City.
The W Champions Cup is Concacaf’s first official competition for women’s clubs. The Group Stage consists of two groups of five clubs, with each club playing every club in its group once (two at home and two away). The group winners and runners-up will progress to the Finals which will be played on a knock-out basis at a yet to be named centralised venue.
“Since 2019, when we launched our first women’s football strategy, we have been working non-stop to provide more opportunities that benefit all our member associations and their leagues, clubs and players at all levels of the sport. While there of course remains more work to do, we have achieved significant progress with the development and delivery of exciting national team competitions and impactful development programs that have provided important opportunities across the whole region,” said Victor Montagliani, Concacaf president.
That strategy has grown to the hugely successful launch of the first W Gold Cup in in February/March that saw Concacaf host the top five teams from South America. The final was played between the US and Brazil who five months later competed in the Olympic final in Paris.
The Concacaf W Champions Cup is the confederation’s qualification pathway for the FIFA Women’s Club World Cup in 2026.
“The Concacaf W Champions Cup is about taking the next step on this journey and focusing on enhancing the women’s club game in our Confederation… With the support of key stakeholders, including long-standing Concacaf broadcast partners CBS Sports and ESPN, we are thrilled to kick off the W Champions Cup,” added Montagliani.
W Champions Cup groups:
Group A: NJ/NY Gotham FC (USA), Tigres Femenil (MEX), CF Monterrey Femenil (MEX), LD Alajuelense (CRC), and Frazsiers Whip Football Limited (JAM).
Group B: San Diego Wave FC (USA), Portland Thorns FC (USA), Club America Femenil (MEX), Santa Fe FC (PAN), and Preliminary Round Winner (TBC).
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