• Launch of a consistent national team calendar will benefit all Concacaf federations; includes W Championship, inaugural W Nations League, and second edition of W Gold Cup 
• 2026 Concacaf W Championship will serve as the region’s qualifier for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympic Games 

Miami, FL (Monday, September 16, 2024)—Building on the successful delivery of the inaugural W Gold Cup this year and the recently launched Concacaf women’s club competition – the W Champions Cup – Concacaf has taken another positive step in the ongoing growth and development of women’s football in the region, with an expanded calendar of women’s national team competitions now confirmed for the 2025 to 2029 international cycle. 

The revamped women’s national team ecosystem, which the Concacaf Council recently approved, will provide a consistent calendar of competitions for all Concacaf federations, providing their women’s national teams with regular opportunities to compete on the regional and global stage. Tournaments will include the W Qualifiers and W Championship, which will serve as the qualification path to the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the Summer Olympic Games, the introduction of an inaugural Concacaf W Nations League, and a second edition of the W Gold Cup.  

Concacaf developed the competition formats after consulting with key stakeholders and analyzing FIFA’s new women’s international match calendar. 

Regarding this important announcement, Concacaf President and FIFA Vice President Victor Montagliani said: “These tournaments will provide a tremendous boost to women’s football in Concacaf with a consistent calendar of competitions now in place for 2025 to 2029 which delivers all 41 of our federations with opportunities to grow and thrive on and off the pitch.” 

“We are now five years on from the launch of our Concacaf W women’s football strategy and much progress has been made, from establishing new competitions to celebrating six of our national teams qualifying for and competing at the last FIFA Women’s World Cup, and of course the delivery of countless coaching and development programs that have provided women and girls across our region with opportunities to engage with the sport. We know there remains much more work to do and we are committed to continuing to support our member federations to develop every level of women’s football in Concacaf.” 

2025-26 Concacaf W Qualifiers  
(Qualifies teams for the 2026 Concacaf W Championship) 

The 2025-2026 Concacaf W Qualifiers will serve as the preliminary round of the 2026 Concacaf W Championship and consist of a single round to be played during the FIFA Women’s International Match Windows of October and November 2025 and February and April 2026.  

For these qualifiers, which will not include the region’s two top-ranked nations according to the Concacaf Women’s Rankings (they will receive a bye to the 2026 Concacaf W Championship), Concacaf Member Associations will be split into six groups.  

Following Group Stage play, where each team will play a maximum of four matches (two home and two away), the six group winners will advance to the 2026 Concacaf W Championship.  

2026 Concacaf W Championship 
(Qualifies teams for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2028 LA Summer Olympics) 

The first of the three major centralized competitions announced in the new Concacaf women’s national team calendar, the Concacaf W Championship, will be played in November 2026 and will serve as the Confederation’s qualifier for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027 and the 2028 LA Summer Olympics. 

The eight teams participating in the five-round direct elimination knockout style competition will include the region’s two top-ranked teams and the six group winners of the 2025-26 Concacaf W Qualifiers.  

The competition will begin with the Quarterfinals, followed by a Play-In, Semifinals, Third-Place Match, and Final. To determine the Quarterfinal pairings and each team’s path to the Final, Concacaf will rank teams 1-8, with the highest-ranked team facing the lowest-ranked team.  

At the conclusion of the Quarterfinals, the four matchup winners will qualify for the Semifinals and guarantee their place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027, while the four losers will progress to a Play-In, where they will face off for Concacaf’s two remaining slots in the Women’s World Cup (this is based on the confederation slot allocation for the previous FIFA Women’s World Cup. The final slot allocation for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 will be confirmed by FIFA in due course.). 

The 2026 Concacaf W Championship Finalists will also secure a berth in the 2028 LA Summer Olympics Games Women’s Football Tournament. Should the USA finish as one of the two W Championship Finalists, Concacaf’s second berth will be awarded to the competition’s Third Place finisher (based on the precedent of host nations’ automatic qualification for previous editions of the Olympic Football Tournament at the Summer Olympic Games).

2028 Concacaf W Nations League  
(Qualifies teams into 2029 Concacaf W Gold Cup) 

The inaugural edition of the Concacaf W Nations League will take place following the conclusion of the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The competition’s Group Stage will occur in February and April 2028, followed by the Finals, where a Champion will be crowned, in November 2028.

2029 Concacaf W Gold Cup 
The second edition of the Concacaf W Gold Cup will take place in the summer of 2029 and will feature the region’s best women’s national teams.  

More details on the 2028 Concacaf W Nations League and 2029 Concacaf W Gold Cup will be announced later. 

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