Inaugural Concacaf W Champions Cup kicks off today
| * 11-clubs will battle for greatness and a spot in new FIFA Women’s Club World Cup *Tournament features some of the world’s best clubs and players *CBS Sports and ESPN confirmed as broadcast partners Miami, FL (Thursday, August 15, 2024) – With all the excitement leading up to tonight’s start of the 2024/25 Concacaf W Champions Cup, with the opening match-up of Alianza vs Vancouver Whitecaps at the historic Estadio Cuscatlan in San Salvador, El Salvador, Concacaf has confirmed the partners that will broadcast the competition’s 25 matches, including next year’s centralized W Champions Cup Finals, which will consist of Semifinals, a Third Place Match, and the Final. The 2024/25 Concacaf W Champions Cup match schedule can be viewed here. The W Champions Cup is Concacaf’s first official continental competition for women’s clubs and a key strategic move for the growth of women’s football in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The inaugural edition will be played between August 2024 and May 2025 and feature 11 clubs. In addition to crowning a champion, the tournament also serves as the sole path through which clubs in the Concacaf region can qualify for the new FIFA Women’s Club World Cup. FIFA has confirmed that the first edition of the new Women’s Club World Cup will be staged in January and February 2026. Football fans from across the Concacaf region and the world will be able to follow and enjoy the W Champions Cup on the Confederation’s longstanding TV partner networks. These include CBS Sports platforms Paramount+, CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Golazo Network (English) and ESPN Deportes (Spanish) in the United States. For Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, matches will be broadcast on ESPN. For all other territories, including Canada, the competition will be available on Concacaf’s Official YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/concacaf). The launch of the W Champions Cup is part of a groundbreaking year for women’s football in Concacaf, following our inaugural W Gold Cup in February and March. The W Gold Cup showcased 12 of the world’s best women’s senior national teams and culminated in an exciting final at the sold-out Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, CA, with over 30,000 fans in attendance. “Since 2019, when we launched our first women’s football strategy, we have been working non-stop to provide more opportunities that benefit all our member associations and their leagues, clubs and players at all levels of the sport. While there of course remains more work to do, we have achieved significant progress with the development and delivery of exciting national team competitions and impactful development programs that have provided important opportunities across the whole region,” said Victor Montagliani, Concacaf President and FIFA Vice President. “The Concacaf W Champions Cup is about taking the next step on this journey and focusing on enhancing the women’s club game in our Confederation. We look forward to the inaugural competition commencing with great anticipation, and I wish the very best to all participating clubs as they compete to be crowned as our first women’s club champion and to qualify for the FIFA Women’s Club World Cup 2026,” added Montagliani. “With the support of key stakeholders, including long-standing Concacaf broadcast partners CBS Sports and ESPN, we are thrilled to kick off the W Champions Cup,” concluded Montagliani. “We’re thrilled to present the inaugural Concacaf W Champions Cup and showcase the top clubs and players in this region across our platforms. CBS Sports continues to be the premiere destination for women’s soccer fans in this country, with Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network as must-haves for their year-round live match and studio coverage,” said Dan Weinberg, Executive Vice President of Programming, CBS Sports. “We are excited to add Concacaf W Champions Cup to our extensive portfolio of women’s sports content. ESPN produced over 100 women’s sports events across its linear and digital Spanish-language platforms in 2023 – a testament to the growing interest for women’s sports among U.S. Hispanics and Latin America. Concacaf W Champions Cup joins a premium list of women’s soccer properties on our air which already includes NWSL and Concacaf W Gold Cup,” added Tim Bunnell, Senior Vice President, Programming & Acquisitions, ESPN.Concacaf W Champions Cup Competition Format The 2024/25 Concacaf W Champions Cup includes a Preliminary Round, followed by group and direct elimination play. The Preliminary Round will be a single-leg match between Alianza Women and Vancouver Whitecaps, with the winner advancing to the Group Stage. The Group Stage includes two groups of five clubs each, with each club playing every club in its group once, for a total of four matches per club (two at home and two away). At the conclusion of Group Stage play, the group winners and runners-up (four clubs in total) will progress to the Finals. The group are as follows: Group A: NJ/NY Gotham FC (USA), Tigres Femenil (MEX), CF Monterrey Femenil (MEX), LD Alajuelense (CRC), and Frazsiers Whip Football Limited (JAM). Group B: San Diego Wave FC (USA), Portland Thorns FC (USA), Club America Femenil (MEX), Santa Fe FC (PAN), and Preliminary Round Winner (TBC). The W Champions Cup Finals will include Semifinals (1A vs. 2B and 1B vs. 2A), a Third-Place Match, and a Final. They will be played in May 2025 in a centralized venue to be announced. |
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