The 2023 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship qualification competition, was a women's football tournament that was contested by the under-20 women's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF to decide the participating teams of the 2023 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship. The qualifying matches were scheduled to take place between 14 and 23 April 2023. A total of six teams in the qualifying competition advanced to the final tournament, joining United States and Mexico, who received byes as the top-ranked teams. The 2023 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship will serve as the CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.[1]
Teams
A record number of 32 CONCACAF member associations entered the qualifying competition, (excluding the United States and Mexico, who have qualified automatically for the final tournament as the top two CONCACAF teams in the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Rankings of August 2022).[2]
^ abcdefNot a member of FIFA, ineligible for World Cup
Venues
On 17 February 2023, CONCACAF announced the tournament would be hosted in Curaçao, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua, with Curaçao hosting Groups B and D and the Dominican Republic hosting groups A and C, and Nicaragua hosting Groups E and F.
The qualifying competition was held from 14 to 23 April 2023 across three countries namely Curaçao, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua. Teams were drawn into six groups (two groups of six teams and four groups of five teams each), and to play in a single round-robin format. The six group winners will advance to the final tournament.
Tiebreakers
The ranking of teams in each group is determined as follows (Regulations Article 12.4):[3]
Points obtained in all group matches (three points for a win, one for a draw, zero for a loss);
Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
Goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question;
Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player in a single match):
Yellow card: −1 points;
Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points;
Direct red card: −4 points;
Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
Drawing of lots.
Draw
The qualification draw took place on 16 February 2023, 11:00 EDT, in Miami, Florida, United States.[4] The 32 teams were seeded based on the CONCACAF U-20 Women's Rankings of August 2022 (in parentheses). In the draw, teams were drawn from each pot and placed in order from groups A to F. The position teams were drawn into was based on their pot: pot 1 teams were drawn into position 1, pot 2 teams into position 2, pot 3 teams into position 3, pot 4 teams into position 4 pot 5 teams into position 5/6.
