2020 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship

2020 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship
Tournament details
Host country	Dominican Republic
Dates	22 February – 8 March
Teams	20 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	United States (6th title)
Runners-up	Mexico
Third place	Haiti
Fourth place	Dominican Republic
Tournament statistics
Matches played	39
Goals scored	198 (5.08 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Melchie Dumornay; (14 goals)
Best player(s)	Mia Fishel
Best goalkeeper	Wendy Toledo
Fair play award	Mexico

The 2020 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship was the 10th edition of the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organized by CONCACAF for the women's under-20 national teams of the North, Central American and Caribbean region. The tournament was held in the Dominican Republic between 22 February and 8 March 2020.[1]

The final tournament is expanded from eight to 20 teams, using the same format as the 2019 CONCACAF U-17 Championship. The top two teams of the tournament would have qualified for the 2021 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup (originally 2020 but postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic) in Costa Rica as the CONCACAF representatives, along with Costa Rica who would have automatically qualified as hosts.[2] The U-20 Women's World Cup was initially to be co-hosted with Panama,[3] but they backed out from co-hosting due to COVID-19 concerns, due to having the highest cases and deaths in the region.[4] The fourth CONCACAF team to qualify, which would have initially been Panama, was not confirmed. However, FIFA announced on 17 November 2020 that this edition of the World Cup would be cancelled.[5]

Mexico were the defending champions but was defeated by United States in the final.

Qualified teams

The qualifying format has changed since the 2018 edition, and the teams are no longer divided into regional zones.

The 41 CONCACAF teams were ranked based on the CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Ranking as of 2018.[6] A total of 26 teams entered the tournament. The highest-ranked 16 entrants were exempt from qualifying and advanced directly to the group stage of the final tournament, while the lowest-ranked 10 entrants had to participate in the qualifying stage, where the four group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 16 of the knockout stage of the final tournament.[7]

On 13 January 2020, CONCACAF announced that Costa Rica and Panama, who had automatically qualified for the 2021 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup as hosts, would no longer participate in the 2020 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship. As a result, the following changes to the tournament were made:[8]

Guyana (Qualifying Group A winner) and Saint Kitts and Nevis (Qualifying Group B winner), enter the group stage instead of the round of 16.
Bermuda (Qualifying Group A third place) and Barbados (Qualifying Group B third place) enter the round of 16.

Round	Team	Qualification	Appearance	Previous best performance	Previous FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup appearances
Group stage	United States	1st ranked entrant	10th	Champions (2006, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015)	9
	Mexico (title holders)	2nd ranked entrant	10th	Champions (2018)	8
	Canada	3rd ranked entrant	8th	Champions (2004, 2008)	7
	Haiti	4th ranked entrant	5th	Third place (2018)	1
	Jamaica	6th ranked entrant	10th	Fourth place (2006)	0
	Trinidad and Tobago	7th ranked entrant	9th	Fourth place (2014)	0
	Honduras	8th ranked entrant	3rd	Group stage (2014)	0
	Guatemala	9th ranked entrant	3rd	Group stage (2010, 2012)	0
	Nicaragua	11th ranked entrant	3rd	Group stage (2008)	0
	Dominican Republic (hosts)	12th ranked entrant	2nd	Group stage (2004)	0
	El Salvador	13th ranked entrant	1st	Debut	0
	Cuba	14th ranked entrant	4th	Group stage (2008, 2010)	0
	Puerto Rico	15th ranked entrant	1st	Debut	0
	Cayman Islands	16th ranked entrant	2nd	Group stage (2014)	0
	Guyana	Qualifying Group A winner	1st	Debut	0
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	Qualifying Group B winner	1st	Debut	0
Knockout stage	Saint Lucia	Qualifying Group A runner-up	1st	Debut	0
	Grenada	Qualifying Group B runner-up	1st	Debut	0
	Bermuda	Qualifying Group A third place	1st	Debut	0
	Barbados	Qualifying Group B third place	1st	Debut	0

Venues

Santo Domingo San Cristóbal	Santo Domingo	San Cristóbal
	Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez	Estadio Panamericano
	Capacity: 27,000	Capacity: 2,800

Draw

The draw for the group stage took place on 19 April 2019, 11:00 EDT (UTC−4), at the CONCACAF Headquarters in Miami. The 16 teams which entered the group stage were drawn into four groups of four teams.[7] Based on the CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Ranking, the 16 teams were distributed into four pots, with teams in Pot 1 assigned to each group prior to the draw, as follows:[9]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
United States (Group C) Mexico (Group D) Canada (Group E) Haiti (Group F)	Costa Rica Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago Honduras	Guatemala Panama Nicaragua Dominican Republic	El Salvador Cuba Puerto Rico Cayman Islands

Following the exclusion of Costa Rica and Panama from the tournament, their vacated positions in the group stage were replaced by Guyana and Saint Kitts and Nevis respectively. Furthermore, the vacated positions in the round of 16 of Guyana and Saint Kitts and Nevis were replaced by Bermuda and Barbados respectively.[8]

Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 2000 are eligible to compete. Each team must register a squad of 20 players, two of whom must be goalkeepers.[10]

Match officials

CONCACAF announced the appointment of the match officials on 14 February 2020.[11]

Group stage

The top three teams in each group advance to the round of 16, where they are joined by the four teams advancing from the qualifying stage.

Tiebreakers

The ranking of teams in each group is determined as follows (Regulations Article 12.8):[10]

Points obtained in all group matches (three points for a win, one for a draw, zero for a loss);
Goal difference in all group matches;
Number of goals scored in all group matches;
Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
Goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question;
Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player in a single match):
- Yellow card: −1 points;
- Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points;
- Direct red card: −4 points;
- Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
Drawing of lots.

All times are local, AST (UTC−4).[12]

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	3	3	0	0	24	0	+24	9	Knockout stage
2	Dominican Republic (H)	3	1	1	1	7	4	+3	4
3	Cuba	3	1	1	1	6	10	−4	4
4	Honduras	3	0	0	3	1	24	−23	0

Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

22 February 2020