Miami (Tuesday, November 12, 2019) – The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) today announced the details for the 2020 Concacaf Men’s Under-20 Championship. The men’s world cup qualifying competition will be disputed in three stages, in February, June and July of 2020.
Unlike the previous format, which included regional qualifiers in the Caribbean and Central America and one final Championship, the redesigned competition mirrors the format used for the men’s under-17, women’s under-17 and women’s under-20 competitions, ensuring that all participating teams have an opportunity to qualify for a FIFA World Cup and to play more top-level competitive football matches.
The first stage of the competition will kick off in February of 2020. For this initial group stage, 17 participating countries ranked from 17-41, according to the Concacaf Under-20 Ranking as of June 2019, will be divided in three groups of four teams and one group of five teams. After round-robin play, the top finisher in each of the groups will advance to the knockout stage.
The participating countries for the qualifying stage are (in alphabetical order): Anguilla, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and US Virgin Islands.
The second round of the competition, which will also be played in a groups format, will take place in June of 2020. The top ranked 16 participating teams, according to the Concacaf Under-20 Ranking as of June 2019, will be divided into four groups of four. After round-robin play, the top three teams in each of the groups will advance to the knockout stage.
The participating countries for the group stage are (in alphabetical order): Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and USA.
The final stage of the competition, knockout stage, will take place immediately following the second stage. All knockout round matches (round of 16, quarterfinal, semifinal and final) will be played in a single match elimination format, with the semifinalist qualifying to the FIFA U-20 World Cup Indonesia 2021.
An official draw to sort the participating teams into the qualifying and group stage groups, as well as the parings for the round of 16, will take place on Wednesday, November 20, 2019. The draw will be conducted from the Concacaf Headquarters in Miami, FL. Fans will be able to follow all the action beginning at 11:00 am ET via Concacaf.com.
The host countries for each of the rounds and further scheduling details will be publicized after the draw.
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