With the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil taking place next summer, the race for qualification places is heating up. Over in America, the upcoming CONCACAF W Championship will determine which teams gain automatic qualification spots and which will have to battle it out, in what is known as play-in matches.
The losing quarterfinalists will compete in those play-in matches, with winners going through to the inter-continental playoffs. The winners of the quarterfinal games will qualify directly.
The tournament lasts between the 27th of November and the 5th of December, and the teams involved are the USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Jamaica, Panama, Canada and Haiti. The USA will co-host the 2031 Women’s World Cup with Costa Rica, Mexico and Jamaica, meaning these teams gain an automatic route to the next edition of the tournament.
The winners of the semi final matches will also qualify for the Summer Olympics, where the football tournament will be hosted in multiple cities across America, matches taking place in atmospheric venues such as the Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Because America is the host of the next Olympics, if they appear in the semi finals, every team at that stage will qualify for an Olympic place.
Whilst the third place and final matches will take place at the Shell Energy Stadium in Houston (the home ground of NWSL side Houston Dash and MLS team Houston Dynamo), the other games will be contested at the Texas Health Mansfield Stadium. That stadium opened in July and is the current home for MLS NextPro side North Texas SC.
With so much at stake and anticipation building, here is a guide to the teams in the tournament.
USA
For years, the USA have been a dominant force in international women’s football and are the world’s most successful team, with a plethora of first place finishes in international tournaments and a roster filled with stars.
The current squad features some of the world’s best players, such as Olympique Lyonnais midfielder and team captain Lindsey Heaps (who has 178 appearances). The serial World Cup champions, who have won the prestigious trophy four times, have won the CONCACAF W Championship nine times and been victorious in the SheBelives Cup eight times – the latter was won consecutively by the Stars and Stripes between 2020 and 2024, further highlighting their impact on the international stage.
They are managed by Emma Hayes, best known for her successful trophy-laden spell at Chelsea, where she helped them to lift seven WSL titles. Hayes has experience with consecutive wins – five of the seven times Chelsea were awarded the WSL trophy happened in back-to-back seasons. She also won gold with Team USA at the most recent Olympics in Paris in 2024.
Alongside the big name players like Heaps, Chelsea midfielder Alyssa Thompson and Arsenal defender Emily Fox, new players have joined the fold. Young defender Avery Patterson plays her club football for Houston Dash and made her debut in the USA’s last match, a 1-0 win against Brazil in Fortaleza.
The addition of players like Patterson and Kansas City Current’s striker Ally Sentnor, who is one to watch, having scored seven goals and registered four assists in the NWSL this season, demonstrates that Hayes is not shy to rotate the squad, which can be a major strength, especially in an international tournament of this magnitude.
El Salvador
El Salvador have never qualified for a Women’s World Cup, having not entered the first two editions in China (1991) and Sweden (1995) and failing to make the final cut between 1999 and 2023. However the squad finished as bronze medalists twice at the Central American and Caribbean Games, in 2023 and 2026 and silver medalists at the 2025 Central American Games.
As they enter the latest edition of CONCACAF qualifiers for the Women’s World Cup, they will be under the guise of Eric Acuña, who has achieved 73 wins in 100 matches managing various national teams in El Salvador since his call up in 2020.
The team consists of a lot of players who play for American college football sides, such as defender Victoria Sanchez. Sanchez has 13 goals in 38 matches and plays her club football with the Texas State Bobcats. Emely Rubio is another example, as she plays with the Towson Tigers.
However, the star player to watch out for will be Brenda Cerèn. The striker and team captain plays for Cruz Azul in Mexico’s Liga Femenil and she has an eye for goal, scoring 30 times in 45 appearances for her country.
Her proficiency in the box will certainly be a boost to the tournament debutants, who will play the USA in the second quarter-final match.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica have had a few previous successes in the CONCACAF W Championship, but have not qualified from the World Cup group stages on the occasions they made it to the tournament, which were in Canada in 2015 and Australia and New Zealand in 2023. They have been drawn against Jamaica in the quarter finals, which will be the opening match of the knockout stages. Both teams have received a bye to the World Cup as co-hosts, but will want to make the next round of this tournament.
Costa Rica’s tactical acumen was on display at the 2023 World Cup, where they transitioned between defensive shapes like 3-5-2 and attacking formations such as 4-3-2-1, with a focus on blocking and pressing, making them formidable opposition. They certainly have players who can adjust to these situations.
The team’s captain, Katherine Alvarado has represented her country at various youth stages, including under-17 and under-20 levels. She has scored 20 goals in 75 appearances for Costa Rica, has 144 caps and has been an integral part of the senior team, featuring for the last 16 years. Whilst she currently plays her club football for Costa Rican side Saprissa, she has also had spells at Millionarios in Colombia and RCD Espanyol in Spain.
Another player to look out for is Kansas City Current’s Rocky Rodriguez. 2016’s NWSL Rookie of The Year, Rodriguez has goalscoring talent in abundance, showcasing this from a young age, with 23 goals in 93 appearances for her college side, the Penn State Nittany Lions (including bagging the winner in the NCAA College Cup Final in 2015).
She has 58 goals in 112 appearances for Costa Rica and has also played for Portland Thorns, Angel City and Perth Glory. During her time with the latter, she became the first Central American player in the W-League, the top division of Australian women’s football
Jamaica
Known as the “Reggae Girlz”, Jamaica have had a strong rise since their national team was reinstated in 2014, following a six-year absence. They lost narrowly to Trinidad and Tobago in the 2014 Women’s Caribbean Cup, but have had memorable moments in recent years, a standout being their Round of 16 finish in the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Whilst they only conceded once in that game against Colombia, it saw them build on their previous group stage elimination in France, in 2019.
Jamaica’s squad is managed by Hubert Busby Junior, who represented his country between 2001 and 2003 and majorly played in Canada with teams such as Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps, although he also had a brief spell in England with Crystal Palace and Oxford United.
The star player on the team to look out for is Manchester City striker Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, who is the leading goalscorer for both her country and club, highlighting her prowess. She is widely considered to be one of the best strikers in women’s football and the stats speak for themselves. Shaw has 87 goals in 97 appearances for Manchester City since joining in 2021, was the winner of Player of The Season in the 2022-23 campaign as well as being featured in that year’s WSL Team Of The Year, winner of Player of The Month twice ( in October 2022 and March 2023) and she also bagged the FWA Women’s Footballer Of The Year accolade in the 2023-24 season.
There are also lots of other exciting players to watch out for, such as Southampton midfielder Atlanta Primus, young NWSL star Solai Washington (who has made 19 appearances for Orlando Pride) and Crystal Palace defender Allyson Swaby, who, according to stats from Fotmob, has a successful pass rate of 74.3%
Panama
Panama reached the semi finals of the 2018 edition of the CONCACAF W Championship and have enjoyed a successful run to the quarterfinals of this year’s tournament, with a 3-0 win over Saint Kitts and Nevis in March and further victories against Aruba (3-1) and Cuba (3-0) in April. The team will have a strong test against a star-studded Canada in their match, the third quarterfinal game.
However, Panama will be feeling confident about their chances, particularly with their head coach Toña Is. She has plenty of experience at international level, both as a player and coach, having represented the Spanish women’s national team between 1989 and the late 1990s and earning 33 caps, as well as being familiar with success – she was behind Spain’s Under-17 Women’s World Cup win in Iceland in 2015, where players like Carmen Menayo and Lucìa Garcìa starred in the final. She has been in charge of Panama since 2024.
The squad has quite a lot of members who play their club football in Panama, such as UMECIT FC defender Rebeca Espinosa and Tauro FC midfielder Deysiré Salazar. This can further create good bonds between the squad, which is helpful in a tournament setting.
Team captain Marta Cox is one to watch. The midfielder spent several years in Mexico, playing for clubs such as Pachuca and Tijuana. She moved to Fenerbahce in 2025 and has scored 13 times in 24 appearances. She also has 26 goals in 63 appearances for Panama, who she has represented for the last thirteen years after rising through the different youth ranks.
Turbine Potsdam striker Lineth Cedeño is also a player who could potentially have a big impact. She has scored 12 times for Panama, including the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Paraguay during qualifying for the 2023 World Cup.
Canada
With highly experienced ex-England international and former Manchester United manager Casey Stoney at the helm, who went on to manage San Diego Wave before taking the Canada job in 2025, Canada are looking to build on their semi final finish at this tournament in 2024 by going one better.
They have fast become one of the world’s best teams and are currently ninth in the FIFA rankings. They lost in the quarterfinals to England in the 2015 World Cup, but set a tournament record attendance of 1,353,306 and Chelsea defender Kadeisha Buchanan was named the tournament’s Best Young Player
Nowadays, Canada has a team full of highly talented players, including Buchanan, such as striker Olivia Smith, who cost Arsenal £1,000,000, which was a record transfer fee at the time of the move.
Other players to look out for are North Carolina Courage goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan who has made 69 appearances for her country and Portland Thorns midfielder Jessie Fleming.
Fleming has 20 goals in 157 appearances and before joining the NWSL, spent four years with Chelsea with 10 goals in 65 appearances, when they won back to back titles during the Emma Hayes era. Young talent Kaylee Hunter, who plays for AFC Toronto, may also make an impact in the tournament.
Mexico
Mexico are another team who have a strong chance of winning the tournament. Since finishing in third place in the 2014 edition, they have failed to get out of the group stage in the last two tournaments but were gold medalists at the 2023 Pan American Games and have also been serial winners at the Central American and Caribbean Games, finishing in pole position in the last four editions of that competition.
Their head coach Pedro López is from Spain and spent his managerial career coaching international youth teams in Spain before joining the Mexico national women’s football team in 2022. He won the 2022 FIFA Under-20s Women’s World Cup with Spain beforehand and, as he was manager of their under-19s team at the same time, also oversaw their win in the 2022 Under-19s Women’s Euros against Norway.
The captain, midfielder Rebeca Bernal, started her senior club career in Mexico with Monterrey. She won the NWSL Challenge Cup with Washington Spirit against Orlando Pride on her debut, scoring in the penalty shootout. Recently, she signed for Manchester United, becoming the first Mexican player in the WSL. She scored the only goal in the aforementioned Pan American Games win in 2023 against Chile.
Other players to look out for include Tigres UANL striker Diana Ordóñez, young Monterrey midfielder Alice Soto and Club América winger Scarlett Camberos, who is versatile and can play on both sides of the attack as well as in midfield, having played in this manner often for Club América. In September, Camberos became the first Mexican player to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or Femenin.
Mexico will play Haiti in the final quarterfinal match which takes place shortly after Canada’s game.
Haiti
Known as Les Grenadiéres, Haiti have made five appearances at the CONCACAF W Championship, their best performance a fourth place finish back in 1991, when they were hosts. They made their maiden appearance at the World Cup in 2023, but failed to get out of the group stage.
However, they will be looking to make a good start in the tournament when they play against Mexico. Managed by former Sweden striker Pia Sundhage, who scored 71 goals in 146 for her national team between 1975 and 1996, playing at club level for teams including Östers IF, Lazio and Hammarby IF ( the latter twice), they have a coach who is familiar with international management. Sundhage was the Brazil coach at the 2023 World Cup and has also been in charge of the USA, Sweden and Switzerland.
Their reliable and highly experienced captain Nérilia Mondèsir has the most caps with 37. She has been with her current club Seattle Reign since 2024 but prior to this, she played for Arkema Première League side Montpellier, making 123 appearances.
Other players to look out for are Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Océane Toussaint and Olympique Lyonnais midfielder Melchie Dumornay. Toussaint was born in Bagnolet, a suburb in Paris. She spent her youth career playing in France, officially signing for Paris Saint-Germain in 2023.
Dumornay is only 23 years old, but she is already one of the most talked about players in the game. She was the CONCACAF Women’s Player of The Year in back-to-back seasons and is extremely proficient in front of goal, having scored 55 goals in 85 appearances for her club side. In an 11-0 CONCACAF W Gold Cup qualifying win against Saint Kitts and Nevis, Dumornay scored five goals, followed by a hat trick in the 13-0 win four days later.
Overall, this tournament is set to be a very exciting one with lots of talent on display. With only four automatic qualifying places up for grabs, each team will want to go as far as they can and the matches should be filled with drama, excitement and plenty of goals – three of the best things about football.
