Concacaf W Championship field set: Mexico, Jamaica, Haiti among winners who secure place

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The 2026 Concacaf W Championship will have a familiar feel to women's soccer fans.

As qualification closed Saturday, five of the six teams who reached the tournament, are returning from the 2022 W Championship. The only new face is El Salvador, which beat Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 on Friday to secure its place in the final round for the first time.

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The United States and Canada received a bye to the W Championship, as they did in the previous edition. The tournament serves as the final round of World Cup qualification in the region and also will qualify teams for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

It is set to run from late November 2026 through early December.

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Group winners from six groups clinched passage to the final tournament, and no team was qualified heading into the final matchday. However, the favorites were largely able to get the job done and clinch their places in the W Championship once again.

Mexico went into a final-day game against Puerto Rico knowing a win or a draw would send El Tri through, but a loss would end their hopes of making it to Brazil. Tigres' Alexia Delgado got on the board in the 11th minute to relieve the pressure, and Mexico cruised to a 6-0 win. Veteran midfielder Charlyn Corral netted a late double to secure her place as the top scorer in the qualification round.

Costa Rica also would've been eliminated with a Saturday night loss. Hosting Guatemala, Las Ticas also enjoyed an early goal, a thunderous strike from Gloriana Villalobos, and rode that momentum to a 3-0 win over the Chapines.

Missing regulars Marta Cox and Lineth Cedeño to long-term knee injuries, Panama got good performances from elsewhere to return to the final round, as well. Ericka Arauz scored twice in a 3-0 win over Cuba on Friday.

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Jamaica's victory confirmed that Khadija "Bunny" Shaw will play on. The Manchester City forward used a powerful header to score the opening goal in a well-attended 2-0 home win over Guyana to put the Reggae Girlz into the final round. Jamaica made the 2023 Women's World Cup and got out of the group in Australia-New Zealand.

Haiti also was a Women's World Cup participant and booked its place to the W Championship on Friday with a 1-1 draw against the Dominican Republic. Les Grenadiers were without superstar attacker Melchie Dumornay as she works through an injury suffered with her club, OL Lyonnes.

Where will the 2026 Concacaf W Championship take place?

Concacaf is yet to announce a host site for the 2026 edition of the tournament.

The previous edition took place in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon with both pro teams' stadiums in the Monterrey area hosting games. A home-field advantage never materialized for the Mexico women's national team, which fell to Jamaica, Haiti and the U.S. in the group stage and missed the World Cup for the second time in a row.

In 2026, the tournament format will change with participants going directly into a knockout stage. The winners of the four quarterfinals will qualify directly to the 2027 Women's World Cup, while the losers will meet each other in matches for the right to go to the inter-confederation playoffs.

The top three teams in the tournament will clinch a place in the 2028 Olympics. If the host U.S. makes the semifinals, all three semifinalists will qualify for the tournament.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Concacaf W Championship field set

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