The qualifying competition was held in February and April 2022.[8] For six of the available eight slots, thirty teams were drawn into six groups of five, and played two home and two away matches in a single round-robin format. The six group winners advanced to the CONCACAF W Championship.[5] In addition, Canada and the United States, the two highest-ranked CONCACAF teams in the FIFA Women's World Rankings of August 2020, qualified automatically.[4]
Qualified teams
The following teams qualified for the CONCACAF W Championship.
Eight teams played in the tournament, drawn into two groups of four teams and played single round-robin matches.[1] The top two teams of each group advanced to the knockout stage, and qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The two third-placed teams from the group stage advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.[5][3] The number of slots is an expansion from the previous Women's World Cup qualifying competition, which allocated only 3.5 spots to CONCACAF.[10]
The knockout stage featured the semi-finals, a third place match, and the final to determine the champions. The winners of the competition qualified for the football tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics in France, while the second and third-placed teams advanced to the CONCACAF Olympic play-off.[5]
Tiebreakers
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). The rankings of teams in each group were determined as follows (regulations Articles 12.3):[11]
points obtained in all group matches;
goal difference in all group matches;
number of goals scored in all group matches;
If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings are determined as follows:
points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
goal difference in the group matches between the teams concerned;
number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
lowest fair play points in all group matches:
first yellow card: minus 1 point;
indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points;
direct red card: minus 4 points;
yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points;
drawing of lots by CONCACAF.
Draw
The group stage draw was held on 19 April 2022, 19:00 EDT (UTC−4), in Miami, Florida, United States. The eight teams were split into four pots of two teams each, based on the FIFA Women's World Rankings of June 2021.[12] The highest-ranked nation, the United States, was automatically placed in position 1 of Group A, while the second highest-ranked nation, Canada, was placed in position 1 of Group B. The remaining teams were drawn into Group A and B in order, taking the position corresponding to their pot.[13]
Each national team had to submit a preliminary list of up to 60 players, 5 of whom must be goalkeepers, at least thirty days before the opening match of the tournament.[14][15] Using players only from this list, each team must submit a final squad of 23 players, 3 of whom must be goalkeepers, at least ten days before the opening match of the tournament. If a player became injured or ill severely enough to prevent their participation in the tournament before their team's first match, or following the completion of the group stage, they could be replaced by another player from the preliminary list.[11]
Match officials
On 21 June 2022, CONCACAF announced the list of match officials for the tournament.[16]
In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time (two periods of 15 minutes each) was played and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners.
2Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
Qualified teams for the 2023 Pan American Games
Similar to the 2018 championship, this tournament was used to determine the four teams from CONCACAF which qualified for the 2023 Pan American Games Women's football tournament in Chile. The champions and the top team from each of the three CONCACAF zones, i.e., Caribbean (CFU), Central American (UNCAF), and North American (NAFU), qualified.[6] However, Canada declined to participate citing scheduling issues and was replaced by Mexico,[23][24] the next NAFU best team.
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