The 2020 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship was the fifth edition of the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the quadrennial international football tournament organized by CONCACAF to determine which women's national teams from the North, Central American and Caribbean region qualify for the Olympic football tournament. CONCACAF announced on 5 November 2019 that the United States would host the tournament between 28 January to 9 February 2020.

The top two teams qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics women's football tournament in Japan as the CONCACAF representatives. The United States were the defending champions.

Qualification

The eight berths were allocated to the three regional zones as follows: Three teams from the North American Zone (NAFU), i.e., Canada, Mexico and the United States, who all qualified automatically as the only teams in the region. Two teams from the Central American Zone (UNCAF) Three teams from the Caribbean Zone (CFU)

Regional qualification tournaments were held in Central America and Caribbean to determine the five teams joining Canada, Mexico and the United States at the final tournament.

Qualified teams The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.

Team Qualification zone Appearance Previous best performance Previous women's Olympic appearances North America (automatic) 5th Runner-up (2008, 2012, 2016) 3 North America (automatic) 5th Runner-up (2004) 1 North America (automatic) 5th Winner (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016) 6 Central America Group A 5th Semi-finals (2012) 0 Central America Group B 2nd Group stage (2004) 0 Caribbean Group A 1st N/A 0 Caribbean Group B 2nd Group stage (2008) 0 Caribbean Group C 2nd Group stage (2012) 0

Venues The three venues were announced during the draw ceremony on 7 November 2019.

Group A: BBVA Stadium, Houston, Texas Group B: H-E-B Park, Edinburg, Texas Semi-finals and final: Dignity Health Sports Park, Carson, California

Houston, Texas Edinburg, Texas Carson, California BBVA Stadium H-E-B Park Dignity Health Sports Park Capacity: 22,039 Capacity: 9,735 Capacity: 30,510

Draw The draw for the tournament took place on 7 November 2019, 14:30 EST (UTC−5), at the Mediapro Studio in Miami, Florida, United States.

The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. The teams were seeded into four pots for the draw. Pot 1 contained the United States, seeded in Group A as the host nation. The remaining teams were allocated to the pots based on the FIFA Women's World Rankings of 27 September 2019 (shown in parentheses below).

Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4 (1) (7) (27) (38) (51) (56) (73) (134)

Squads

Group stage The top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals.

All times are local, CST (UTC−6).

Tiebreakers The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows: Points obtained in all group matches (three points for a win, one for a draw, none for a defeat); Goal difference in all group matches; Number of goals scored in all group matches; Drawing of lots.

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage All times are local, PST (UTC−8).

Bracket

Semi-finals The semi-final winners qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Final

Goalscorers

Awards The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.

Award Winner Golden Ball Christen Press Golden Boot Jordyn Huitema Golden Glove Stephanie Labbé Fair Play Award

CONCACAF also released a "Best XI" of the tournament.

Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards Stephanie Labbé Kadeisha Buchanan Ashley Lawrence Stephannie Blanco Crystal Dunn Raquel Rodríguez Nérilia Mondésir Lindsey Horan Jordyn Huitema Renae Cuéllar Christen Press

Qualified teams for Summer Olympics The following two teams from CONCACAF qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic women's football tournament.

Team Qualified onPrevious appearances in Summer Olympics1 3 (2008, 2012, 2016) 6 (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016) 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Controversy In the 19th minute of the group stage match between the United States and Haiti, Haiti's Roseline Éloissaint scored a header from a corner kick. However, the assistant referee signalled that Éloissaint was at an offside position, and Éloissaint's goal was subsequently disallowed. According to the Laws of the Game, there was no offside offense since Éloissaint received the ball directly from a corner kick.

References

External links Concacaf Women's Olympic Qualifying, CONCACAF.com