CONCACAF announces schedule for 2010 CONCACAF Women’s Championship

CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, has announced the groups and dates for the CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2010 – Mexico. This year’s tournament, which will serve as the qualification tournament for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011, will feature eight teams participating in Cancún and Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

The 2010 format features eight teams separated into two groups, with Canada, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana in one group and USA, Costa Rica, Haiti and Guatemala in the opposite group. Matches will be played at Estadio Beto Ávila in Cancún and Estadio Unidad Deportiva in Playa del Carmen. The top-two teams advance to the final and qualify for Germany 2011; the third-place team qualifies for a qualification playoff against the fifth-place team from Europe.

Canada finished second at each of the last two CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cups, both times finishing runner-up to confederation champion USA. With each finish, Canada qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup (USA 2003 and China 2007), thus bringing its string to four consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cups. It previously qualified for USA 1999 by finishing first at the 1998 CONCACAF Women’s Championship and for Sweden 1995 by finishing second at the 1994 CONCACAF Women’s Championship.

Canada now has its sights set on a fifth-straight qualification with hopefully another top-two finish at the confederation championship.

Canada, whose title sponsor is Winners and presenting sponsor is Teck, has consistently ranked amongst the top women’s football nations in the world, with its most recent position at 11th on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. It ranks second in CONCACAF behind the world’s number-one ranked USA.