TT women to play Mexico in Concacaf U17

TT Under-17 women football team have been drawn in Group E with Mexico, in the first round of the Concacaf Under-17 Championship, in August.

The official draw, to sort the participating teams into the groups for the qualifying stage and group stage of the final competition, took place yesterday at the Concacaf headquarters in Miami, United States.

The World Cup qualifying competition, to be played between 32 Concacaf member associations, will be disputed in three rounds. The first-round qualifiers will take place between August 17-25, while the dates for the Final Championship – group stage and knockout round, will be announced at a later date.

Unlike the previous format, which included regional qualifiers in the Caribbean and Central America and one final Championship, the new competition mirrors the format used for the men’s Under-20 and Under-17 competitions, ensuring that all participating teams have an opportunity to play more top-level football matches.

The competition will kick off in August, with the qualifiers. For this initial stage, the lowest-ranked 16 teams, based on the Concacaf Women’s Under-17 ranking as of July 2018, will be divided into four groups (A, B, C and D). After round-robin play, the top finisher in each group will advance to the knockout stage of the Final Championship.

The 16 teams participating in the qualifying round are (in alphabetical order): Anguilla, Antigua/Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bonaire, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Guyana, Honduras, Martinique, St Kitts/Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent/Grenadines and US Virgin Islands.

The Final Championship will kick off with a group stage, in which the top-ranked 16 participating teams, based on the Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Ranking as of July 2018, will be sorted into four groups (E, F, G and H). After round-robin play, the top three finishers in each of the groups will join the winners of Groups A, B, C and D (from the qualifiers) in the round of 16.

The 16 teams participating in the group stage of the Final Championship are (in alphabetical order): Bermuda, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, TT and United States.

The knockout stage of the competition – round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final – will be played in its entirety in a single match elimination format, with the finalists and third place finishers automatically qualifying for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2020 in India.