From CONCACAF

February Tournament to Be Played in Dallas and Houston, Will Decide Region’s Berths to Rio 2016

Miami (Wednesday, August 12, 2015) – The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) today announced that the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship 2016 will be played in the United States from February 10-21, 2016, in the Houston and Dallas metropolitan areas.

The two venues for the competition are BBVA Compass Stadium, home to the Houston Dash of the NWSL and the Houston Dynamo of MLS, and Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, home to FC Dallas of MLS. The top two finishers in the tournament will qualify for the 2016 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.

The eight participating nations in the Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship will include host United States — 2012 London Olympic Games Women’s Football gold medalist – as well as 2012 Olympic bronze medalists Canada and fellow North American competitor Mexico.

“The Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship is another platform — like the FIFA Women’s World Cup — for our brightest stars on the women’s stage,” said CONCACAF Acting General Secretary Ted Howard. “At CONCACAF we take great pride in the improving overall quality of our women’s football, and look forward to following our teams on their path to Rio.”

Next year’s tournament will see the eight participating nations divided into two groups of four, with the top two finishers in each group after round-robin play advancing to the semifinals. The round-robin stage of the tournament will be conducted with three doubleheaders in each group.

Ticketing information for the competition will be announced in the near future. The United States will be in Group A and will play all of its group matches in Frisco. Group A will play doubleheaders at Toyota Stadium on Feb. 10, 13 and 15 and Group B will play doubleheaders at BBVA Compass Stadium on Feb. 11, 14 and 16.

The all-important semifinal matches will be on Feb. 19 in Houston with the championship game on Feb. 21, also in Houston. The top two finishers in the tournament will qualify for the 2016 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament that will run from Aug. 3-20 in six Brazilian cities including the host city of Rio de Janeiro.

“We’re excited to host this event at two excellent venues and look forward to some entertaining matches in what will be the first tournament competition for our team since the Women’s World Cup,” said U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati. “The quality of women’s soccer in CONCACAF continues to improve over every cycle and we expect that to be the case once again over the 15 matches in Texas.”

The final tournament schedule and kick-off times will be set following the qualifying tournaments in Central America and the Caribbean, which begin in late September.

2016 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship Schedule
Feb. 10, 2016 — Group A Doubleheader; Frisco, Texas
Feb. 11, 2016 — Group B Doubleheader; Houston, Texas
Feb. 13, 2016 — Group A Doubleheader; Frisco, Texas
Feb. 14, 2016 — Group B Doubleheader; Houston, Texas
Feb. 15, 2016 — Group A Doubleheader; Frisco, Texas
Feb. 16, 2016 — Group B Doubleheader; Houston, Texas
Feb. 19, 2016 — Semifinal Doubleheader; Houston, Texas
Feb. 21, 2016 — Final; Houston, Texas