ALABAMA - In what has been a trend in the past few years, CONMEBOL and CONCACAF continued their partnership to expand the game across the continent by announcing the details of the inaugural edition of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup. The new tournament will be played between February 17-March 10 across four stadiums in three U.S. cities.
Carson, San Diego and Houston will serve as the host cities, with the final of the tournament to be played at the new Snapdragon stadium, in San Diego, California. CONCACAF's strategic decision to play the final in San Diego might have come after seeing the huge interest of local fans in women's soccer.
During their inaugural NWSL match against Angel City FC in their new stadium, the San Diego Wave Fútbol club drew a then-record 32,000 fans to the match and have continuously attracted big crowds, even breaking their record set in 2022.
▪️ sold out crowd
— San Diego Wave FC (@sandiegowavefc) November 6, 2023
▪️ new club record
▪️ new playoff record
LFG SAN DIEGO 🌊 pic.twitter.com/OzY12EJTqM
As CONCACAF and CONMEBOL keep on developing their partnership, women's soccer will continue its tremendous growth as a result. "When we launched our women's football strategy, we committed to developing the sport for women and girls at all levels. Much work has been done in the past four years, ranging from delivering more girls football projects in our region and implementing enhanced women's coaching initiatives in the Caribbean and Central America. The Concacaf W Gold Cup is the pinnacle of the women's game in our Confederation, and it will provide an opportunity to celebrate that progress and commit to doing even more in the future", declared CONCACAF President and FIFA Vice President, Victor Montagliani, during a press conference last month.
These type of partnerships among different confederations is nothing new, but it is an initiative that has intensified in the last 10 years beginning with the 2016 Copa América Centenario.
Soccer federations from the same confederations have also developed closer bonds with aims to develop the sport within their region. The Mexican and U.S. Soccer federations are the ones that have taken the most advantage, launching new competitions such as the Leagues Cup and Campeones Cup. Having the financial backing of more than one entity has also facilitated them to launch bids to host FIFA tournaments.
After securing the first 42-team World Cup to be played in three different countries (Canada, U.S., Mexico), the two biggest CONCACAF representatives submitted a bid yesterday to host the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup, which is expected to be the largest women's sporting event of all time, with 32 participating nations.
The entire continent has seen an incredible growth in the professionalization of women's soccer, as more countries launched more women's leagues in the last decade. Subsequently, the Americas have obtained better results at international tournaments.
Since the 2015 Women's World Cup, six countries have qualified to their first-ever World Cup (Haiti, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Chile and Panama). During this year's edition, a record nine teams from across the Americas qualified to the World Cup.
Tournaments like the SheBelieves Cup has also given South American countries the opportunity to compete against some of the world's best women's teams as they have been invited to four tournaments since its inception in 2016.
© 2023 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
