- Tournament will be the first to feature the Confederation’s new women’s youth competition format
- Concacaf’s best women’s U-20 teams will compete in May 2023 for the regional title and three available spots in next year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup
- Qualifiers draw scheduled for February 16; matches to take place April 14-23
Miami, FL (Wednesday, February 15, 2023) - Concacaf has announced that the Dominican Republic will host the 2023 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship (CWU20C). The FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup qualifying competition will take place May 24 - June 3, 2023, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
“We are very pleased to launch this new competition format which will showcase the very best women’s U-20 teams from across our region, as they compete to be crowned Concacaf champion and for qualification to the FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup. We know the Dominican Republic will be an excellent host for this important tournament and on behalf of Concacaf, I would like to thank the Dominican Football Federation for their wholehearted support,” said Concacaf General Secretary Philippe Moggio.
The 2023 CWU20C in the Dominican Republic will feature the region’s new format for women’s youth competitions, beginning with an eight-team group stage played between Concacaf’s top eight teams, consisting of the top two ranked nations (United States and Mexico) and the six qualifying stage winners (additional details on the qualifiers are available below).
After round robin play, the two best teams from each group (four in total) will advance to the competition’s knockout stage. All knockout stage matches (semifinals, third-place match and final) will be played in a single match elimination format, with the top three finishers qualifying for next year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
The official draw for the group stage of the CWU20C will take place on May 2, 2023, at Concacaf HQ in Miami, FL. Further details regarding the official draw, as well as the stadiums that will host matches, will be published at a later date.
2023 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Qualifiers
The qualifiers for the revamped 2023 CWU20C are scheduled to take place April 14-23 and will include 32 Concacaf member associations (all ranked between 3-41).
The participating member associations will be divided into two groups of six teams each and four groups of five teams each (six groups in total). Following round robin play, where each member association will play one match against each of the other member associations in the same group, the group winners (six teams) will all advance to the CWU20C's group stage in the Dominican Republic.
The member associations which have confirmed their participation in the qualifiers are, in alphabetical order: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and US Virgin Islands.
The official draw for the qualifiers will take place on Thursday, February 16 at the Concacaf HQ in Miami, FL. Fans and media will be able to follow the draw starting at 11:00 am ET via Concacaf.com.
After the draw, Concacaf will confirm the schedule, countries and stadiums which will host qualifying matches.
In the previous edition of the Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship, also played in the Dominican Republic, in 2022, the United States won its seventh title after defeating Mexico 2-0 in the final. In the third-place match, Canada topped Puerto Rico 2-0 to secure a birth for the 2022 FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Cup in Costa Rica.
