Concacaf has unveiled details ahead of the first Women’s Soccer Gold Cup, which is scheduled for next year in the United States.
Qualification will begin in September, following the draw to be held on May 17, and nine teams will qualify for the 18-country main event.
The Concacaf Women’s Soccer Gold Cup, which will be held from February 17 to March 10, 2024, will feature a six-team preliminary round and a 12-team group stage. There will then be a three round elimination phase to determine the best women’s team in all of North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Concacaf made the announcement on Wednesday to mark International Women’s Day.
“This new Concacaf Women’s Soccer Gold Cup will be the flagship event for the national women’s soccer teams in our region and will showcase some of the best players in Concacaf and the world,” said Canadian Victor Montagliani, President of the Concacaf and Vice-President of FIFA.
The 12-team group stage will consist of eight Concacaf teams and four other guests from the CONMEBOL confederation of South America.
The top-ranked Americans in the world have already secured a place in the group stage by winning the 2022 Concacaf Women’s Soccer Championship. They defeated Canada 1-0 in the final.
The Canadians, sixth in the world, can secure their ticket to the group stage by beating Jamaica (44e) in a home-and-away series during the Concacaf Olympic Qualifiers, which take place in September. The losing team of this duel will face a longer route to the Gold Cup.
Six other Concacaf teams will advance to the group stage through qualifying and the preliminary round. CONMEBOL guest teams — Brazil (9e), Colombia (27e), Argentina (29e) and Paraguay (50e) — were selected following the 2022 Women’s America’s Cup.
The qualifying road begins in September for 33 countries, following the conclusion of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The 33 Concacaf teams, not including the region’s two representatives at the 2024 Paris Olympics (the United States and Canada or Jamaica), will be split into three leagues according to their March 2023 Concacaf ranking.
League A will feature the nine highest ranked teams divided into three groups. League B will consist of the next 12 highest ranked teams divided into three groups while League C is made up of the 12 lowest ranked teams divided into three groups.
After home and away matches during the FIFA international windows of September, October and November, the three winners of the League A group qualify for the group stage of the Concacaf Women’s Soccer Gold Cup.
The runners-up from the League A groups and the winners of the League B groups qualify for the preliminary round of the tournament.
These six teams will face off in a single preliminary stage knockout match, scheduled for February 17, 2024, to decide which three teams will progress to the group stage.
The six countries will be split into three pairs based on their December 2023 Concacaf rankings. The winners will advance to the group stage.
The round-robin group stage, which will take place from February 20-28, 2024, will divide the teams into three groups of four. After the group stage, the three winners and runners-up, as well as the two best third-place finishers, will qualify for the knockout stage.