The 2025 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship, which will determine the confederation’s four representatives for the 2026 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup, will be held from Thursday, May 29, to Sunday, June 8. Costa Rica will be the host, with all matches to be played at Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, the home stadium of L. D. Alajuelense.
The draw is scheduled for Wednesday, March 26, at 11:00 a.m. EDT.
The eight teams that will play in the Championship are the United States and Mexico, which both had byes for the preliminary qualifying stage, plus the six group winners from the preliminary round: Canada, Costa Rica, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, and Puerto Rico.
Notably absent is Jamaica, which, along with the United States and Mexico, had participated in all previous editions of this tournament, including when it was designated as an Under-19 event in 2002 and 2004.
Based on the updated Concacaf Women’s Under-20 ranking, the pots should be as follows (with ranking points in parentheses):
Pot 1: USA (3683), Mexico (3536)
Pot 2: Canada (3417), Costa Rica (2261)
Pot 3: Puerto Rico (1620), Panama (1278)
Pot 4: Guyana (1221), Nicaragua (953)
The Championship will be in the traditional format of a round-robin stage, followed by a knockout bracket. The top two teams from each four-team round-robin group will qualify for the FIFA U-20 WWC. The knockout stage will not only be for bragging rights, as the champion should receive bonus points in the pot seedings for the FIFA U-20 WWC (draw procedures for the 2024 FIFA U-20 WWC).
Although the name of the tournament implies that this will be an under-20 event, the oldest birth year allowed is 2006. There is also a lower age floor, as players must be born no later than 2010. (2025 regulations PDF)
This is the second cycle in a row where Concacaf’s qualifying tournament for a FIFA U-20 WWC has been held over a year in advance. In 2023, the Championship was held from May 25 to Jun 4. In prior cycles, the Championship was held either the same year or in December of the preceding year. UEFA does something similar, with odd-year UEFA Women’s Under-19 Championships acting as qualifiers for the next year’s FIFA U-20 WWC.
(From a development perspective, it would be beneficial for Concacaf to keep U-20 WWC qualifying in odd years and adding a U-19 tournament in even years, which could simply be an “Invitational” for the four teams that did not qualify for the U-20 WWC, plus the next four highest-ranked teams.)
Concacaf press release: “Costa Rica to host 2025 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship” (6-Mar-2025)
Concacaf Under-20 Women’s Championship Ranking table (dated 6-Mar-2025, but not updated on their website until at least six days later)
Women's Soccer Express 