Jamaica eyeing Inaugural Women’s CONCACAF Gold Cup

CMC – THE Jamaica Reggae Girlz will have their eyes on the Cup when the inaugural Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup will be played in the United States, from February 17 to March 10 next year.

The Jamaicans are one of the two teams the organisers have identified that will secure automatic qualification for the 12-team tournament comprising eight Concacaf teams and four guest teams from the South American confederation, Conmebol.

So far, current world champions, United States have secured a berth by winning the 2022 Concacaf W Championship, and they will be joined by the winner of the Concacaf Olympic play-in between the Reggae Girlz and a further six Concacaf teams who qualify through earlier rounds.

The CONMEBOL guest participants have been determined based on the 2022 Women’s Copa America.

“This new Concacaf W Gold Cup will be the flagship event for women’s national team football in our region and will showcase some of the very best women’s football in Concacaf and the world,” Concacaf president and FIFA vice-president, Victor Montagliani said.

“The tournament will be a celebration of the work we have done so far, hand-in-hand with our federations, implementing our groundbreaking Concacaf W strategy, which was launched in 2019 to prioritise the growth of women’s football at all levels.

“While there remains more work to do, I believe we are now truly beginning to see the benefits of that strategy, not least through the performances of the record six Concacaf teams who have qualified for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.”

Six teams will play in the preliminary stage on February 17 next year to send three teams into the group stage, which takes place from February 20 to 28.

The knockout stages including the quarterfinals, the semi-finals, and the final will take place from March 2 to 10.