MIAMI (Tuesday, November 22, 2016) - The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) confirmed today the programming for the official draw for the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship Costa Rica 2017. The draw will take place on Tuesday, November 29, at 6:00 local time (7:00 pm ET).
Additionally, CONCACAF announced that, due to the on-going sanctions imposed on the Guatemala Football Federation prohibiting teams from the nation to participate in international competition, Panama will replace Guatemala in next year’s championship.
The official draw, which will set the groups for the Championship, to begin in San Jose in February of next year, will be administered by CONCACAF General Secretary Philippe Moggio, with the presence of CONCACAF Council Member Luis Hernandez and Costa Rica Football Federation President Rodolfo Villalobos.
The draw will be conducted at the National Stadium in San Jose, sorting the twelve qualified nations set to participate in the championship into three groups of four teams each.
As host, Costa Rica will be seeded at the top of one of the three groups. Mexico and the United States -- the two teams that have fared the best in recent under-20 championships using a co-efficient developed by CONCACAF – will also be seeded into one of the three groups.
The remaining nine qualified teams, Antigua & Barbuda, Bermuda, Canada, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Panama, St. Kitts & Nevis and Trinidad & Tobago, will be drawn into the three groups using a pre-defined procedure designed to ensure balanced and competitive groups weighted equally by region.
The CONCACAF Under-20 Championship Costa Rica 2017 is scheduled to be played February 17 – March 5, 2017, at the National Stadium in San Jose, Costa Rica, and the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium in Tibas. The tournament will qualify four teams directly to the FIFA Under-20 World Cup South Korea 2017.
