Jamaica installed in League A for U-15 Championship
MIAMI, United States (CMC) — Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago will be among 32 teams contesting the Concacaf Girls’ Under-15 Championship which gets underway next month in Tampa, Florida in the United States.
Continental governing body Concacaf said Monday, 31 member associations along with an invited nation would do battle in the July 31 to August 7 tournament carded for Hillsborough County Tournament Sportsplex on Florida’s west coast.
“We are thrilled to once again be hosting this exciting competition, especially at such an important time for women’s football in our region with the Concacaf Women Qualifiers delivered earlier this year and the upcoming W Championship in July,” said Concacaf General Secretary Philippe Moggio.
“Our U-15 Girls’ Championship will provide hundreds of girls from across North America, Central America and the Caribbean with an opportunity to compete and experience all aspects of a top-level Concacaf competition.”
The tournament will be divided into Leagues A, B and C according to the ranking of teams as of May, with each league comprised of four-team groups which are yet to be determined.
Following the preliminary round the two group winners and second-place finishers from League A will advance to the knockout stage and will contest the tournament’s championship.
In Leagues B and C the three group winners and the best second-place finisher will advance to the semi-finals of their respective league.
The knockout stage of each league will comprise the semi-finals, final and third-place play-off.
Powerhouses Jamaica have been installed in League A alongside the likes of Canada, Costa Rica, Haiti, Mexico, Puerto Rico, United States and the yet-to-be-named guest nation, and the island is the only English-speaking Caribbean side in the higher echelons of the tournament.
Trinidad and Tobago will be one of 12 sides in League B along with Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and St Kitts and Nevis.
Meanwhile, Anguilla, Aruba, Belize, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Lucia, St Martin, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Turks and Caicos Islands and US Virgin Islands will contest League C.
The last Under-15 tournament was staged four years ago when United States lifted their second title by beating Mexico in the final.