The first-ever competition between the best women’s club teams in North and Central American and the Caribbean will begin later this year, Concacaf announced Tuesday.
The Cocacaf W Champions Cup follows the inaugural W Gold Cup between the region’s best national teams, which concluded on Sunday with the U.S. women’s national team beating Brazil 1-0 in the final.
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The competition will also serve as the qualifying event for the proposed, but not yet officially announced, FIFA Women’s Club World Cup.
Three teams from the NWSL, three from Mexico’s Liga MX Femenil and five others from the rest of the region will make up the field for the first W Champions Cup, which will begin in August.
The winner of a preliminary round from the representatives of Canada and El Salvador will join the nine other teams in two groups of five, with each team playing four games (two at home and two away) between August and October.
The top two teams in each group will then progress to a centralized final four event to be held in May 2025.
“Launching the Concacaf W Champions Cup is a very exciting next step on our journey of developing all aspects of women’s football in our region,” said Concacaf president and FIFA vice president, Victor Montagliani, as part of the announcement.
“When we launched our Concacaf W women’s football strategy in 2019 we focused on creating an enhanced calendar of national team competitions that benefited all of our Member Associations, and on providing opportunities for women and girls to develop a passion for football at all levels of the sport. We have made significant progress in those areas, albeit with much work more to do, and the growth of leagues and clubs is an important next phase in our strategy.
“The W Champions Cup will provide a tremendous sporting opportunity for clubs in Concacaf, and we look forward to the first edition commencing in August this year, to crowning a first champion in May 2025, and to delivering an exciting pathway to the new FIFA Women’s Club World Cup.”
Qualification slots for W Champions Cup:
Canada: 1 club in Preliminary Round
Costa Rica: 1 club in Group Stage
El Salvador: 1 club in Preliminary Round
Jamaica: 1 club in Group Stage
Mexico: 3 clubs in Group Stage
Panama: 1 club in Group Stage
USA: 3 clubs in Group Stage
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