Right now, North America is the undisputed envy of the women’s soccer world. Canada just won their first Olympic gold medal, beating Sweden in a thrilling penalty shootout earlier this month. The United States women’s national team, despite being upset by its northern neighbor in the semis in Tokyo, remains the reigning world champion and FIFA’s top-ranked team. But despite currently holding both major women’s tournament titles, other nations – some with storied histories in the men’s game – are quickly closing the gap. Seven out of the eight quarterfinalists at the Women’s World Cup two years ago in France hailed from Europe, with the eventual-winner U.S. the lone exception. CONCACAF teams simply can’t afford to rest on their laurels. That’s one reason the governing body for the sport across the sprawling continent, plus Central America and the Caribbean, on Thursday introduced two new women’s competitions: an expanded World Cup qualifying event and the first W Gold Cup, which will kick off with 12 participants in the summer of 2024. Together, the two new tourneys will more than double the number of competitive matches teams in this region will play. The idea is to increase the stakes not just for the twin heavyweights U.S. and Canada, but also to help developing programs like Mexico, Jamaica and Costa Rica quickly upgrade their level. “We need to get more teams to have the ability on any given day to beat each other,” CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani told reporters Thursday via Zoom. “We’ve seen that on the men’s side, and we need to start seeing that on the women’s. It will help build our quality and our ability to send teams to a World Cup.” That’s important. With the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand expanding to 32 entrants from 24, CONCACAF will receive four automatic berths, up from three in 2019. Another two teams can qualify via playoffs, which could mean up to six World Cup representatives from the region. Under the new format, World Cup qualifying will begin this fall. The U.S. and Canada received byes for the first round; they’ll enter the final round, dubbed the CONCACAF W Championship, along with six other squads, next year. The two semifinal winners will punch their ticket to the 2023 event, but that’s when things get interesting. To prevent the finale from being anticlimactic, the champion will also automatically qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. “It makes the final a real final,” said Montagliani, who pointed out that the loser will still have the opportunity to reach the Summer Games. The new initiatives are the latest examples of CONCACAF’s growing focus on the women’s game. The organization had already launched a Women’s Nations League and Women’s Champions League in recent months. Montagliani, the former head of the Canadian Soccer Association, believes that adding more programming will grow the game organically by giving the smaller countries something to shoot for. “I think by having more official competitions, it now incentivizes countries to prepare,” he said. “It’s a much easier conversation for federations that maybe have not invested, historically, into the women’s side of the game. They are now, in some ways, forced to.” CONCACAF, on the other hand, wasn’t forced to do any of this. North America has been on the leading edge of the women’s game for more than three decades. The early success of the USWNT — winners of three major titles in the 1990s — sparked the launch of professional women’s leagues in the U.S.; the third-iteration NWSL, now in its ninth season, is thriving. Still, the value of increased competition can’t be overstated. Canada’s Olympic triumph this summer might not have happened had they not had to measure themselves against the rival U.S. for so many years. Were the rest of North America to stand still, it’s probably only a matter of time until futbol-crazy countries like France and Germany – which already have the money, soccer infrastructure and know-how in place – become the standard-bearers instead. Perhaps it’s inevitable that Europe will eventually become the epicenter of women’s soccer, as it is on the men’s side. But CONCACAF ought to be commended for its commitment to it now, at the region’s finest hour. “Women’s football is not about just the future,” Montagliani said. “It’s not the future of football. It’s the present.” Here’s what others have said … Karina LeBlanc, CONCACAF Head of Women’s Football: “These new competitions will be game-changing for women’s football in CONCACAF. I am so excited for the draw this weekend and the first qualification matches for 30 of our women’s national teams in November this year.” Grant Wahl, Fútbol with Grant Wahl Podcast: “This is big for the growth of women’s soccer in all of CONCACAF.” Lesle Gallimore, Girls Academy League Commissioner: “This is great news for the region. CONCACAF countries will benefit from these types of competitions in the women’s game.” |
