The Confederation of North/​Central American and Caribbean Association Football is introducing the W Gold Cup starting in 2024. The W Gold Cup gives women’s national teams in CONCACAF the opportunity to play competitive matches on a regular basis.

All 41 CONCACAF member nations are eligible to take part in the W Gold Cup, including the six that are not FIFA members [Bonaire, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Sint Maarten, and St Martin].

The CONCACAF W Gold Cup consists of a league phase and a final tournament. The league phase determines the teams that qualify for the final tournament.

ALLOCATION TO LEAGUES

In the inaugural W Gold Cup, teams have been allocated to the leagues based upon the CONCACAF women’s national team rankings:

• League A: Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, St Kitts-Nevis, Trinidad-Tobago, United States
• League B: Antigua-Barbuda, Barbados, Bermuda, Dominica, Dominican Rep, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Martinique, Nicaragua, St Vincent-Grenadines, Suriname
• League C: Anguilla, Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Bonaire, Cayman Is, Cuba, Curaçao, Grenada, Guadeloupe, St Lucia, Sint Maarten, Turks-Caicos Is, US Virgin Is

French Guiana, Montserrat, and St Martin did not enter. The British Virgin Is entered but withdrew before the draw. Sint Maarten withdrew after the draw.

LEAGUE PHASE

In the league phase, each league is divided into groups, and teams in each group play one another twice. The league phase is played SEP-DEC 2023.

The draw for the league phase was held on WED 17 MAY 2023 in Miami, FL, USA.

League A is made up of three groups, each containing three teams. The first placed teams in each group qualify for the group phase of the final tournament, and the second placed teams advance to the preliminary round. The last placed teams in each group are relegated to League B for the next edition of the tournament.

The two teams that qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics – Canada and the United States – also qualify automatically for the group phase of the final tournament and receive a bye through the league phase.

League B is made up of three groups, each containing four teams. The first placed teams in each group advance to the preliminary round and earn promotion to League A for the next edition of the tournament. The last placed teams are relegated to League C.

League C is made up of four groups, two containing four teams each, and two containing three teams each. Of the first placed teams in each group, the top three [based on points per match] are promoted to League B.

FINAL TOURNAMENT

The top two teams in each League A group, and the first placed teams in each League B group, advance to the W Gold Cup final tournament, held in FEB-MAR 2024 in the United States.

The preliminary round involves the three second placed teams from League A, and the three first placed teams from League B. The teams will be placed into three matches based upon their CONCACAF women’s rankings. The three winners advance to the group phase.

The group phase involves the three preliminary round winners, the three first placed teams from League A, the two Olympic qualifiers [Canada and the United States], and four guest teams from CONMEBOL [Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Paraguay].

The teams will be drawn into three groups of four teams each. The top two teams in each group, plus the top two third placed teams, advance to the elimination phase.