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CONCACAF is set to launch a women’s tournament that will offer qualification for the new FIFA Women’s Club World Cup.
The CONCACAF W Champions Cup will be the first continental women’s tournament by the federation and follows the success of the W Gold Cup, which was won by the USWNT at the weekend.
The annual competition will start in August this year and feature clubs from the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), Liga MX as well as those from across Central America and the Caribbean.
The draw for the tournament will take place in June, with preliminary and group-stage matches held across August, September, and October, with the semi-finals and final held in May 2025.
The main section of the tournament will feature ten teams in two groups of five after clubs from Canada and El Salvador play off to reach the group stages.
The other nine teams will comprise three each from NWSL and Liga MX, plus one each from Costa Rica, Jamaica and Panama.
CONCACAF president and FIFA vice-president Victor Montagliani said: “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.”
Does this come as a surprise for the NWSL?
Analysis by senior women’s soccer writer, Megan Linehan
The NWSL has had ongoing communication with CONCACAF, including multiple meetings in person, but the league did not know the timing of these additional matches this year. NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said in an interview with The Athletic on Tuesday that the NWSL was not working with the August-October timing “before we made our calendar or our schedule.”
Generally, Berman stressed the NWSL hopes for a more holistic approach to any additions to the schedule, whether it’s via World Cups, Club World Cups or any other potential additions. “We have to be really thoughtful about how the decisions are being made and how that impacts everyone, not just us,” she continued. “We actually want many countries to grow thriving professional leagues, so that we can grow the labor market and have more interest in the game.” In the future, she hoped, the NWSL could be in a better position to communicate those desires to confederations or other higher powers.
One unknown for the NWSL is how they will approach the three teams that qualify for these new Club World Cup qualifiers. Will they pick the top three performing teams by a certain point this season, ahead of August? Will they retroactively grant spots to the NWSL Championship and Shield winners for 2023 (this season’s Challenge Cup participants Gotham FC and Wave FC). Who would be the third team? How will these three teams navigate additional games following the Olympics? Right now, the NWSL will have to figure this out on the fly.
(Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
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