USA Draws Puerto Rico, Haiti and Bermuda in Final Round of Concacaf Women's Under-17 Qualifiers
U-17 WNT Must Win Group or Finish as Best Second Place Team in Order to Qualify for 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco
ATLANTA (Feb. 18, 2026) – The U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team will face Puerto Rico, Haiti and Bermuda in Group B in the Final Round of the 2026 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Qualifiers. The Final Round of qualifiers will be held between March 17-22, 2026, at the Costa Rican Football Federation headquarters in San Rafael, Alajuela.
This is the second year of this Concacaf qualifying format for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. With the world championship now staged annually and expanded from 16 to 24 nations, instead of a tournament in which the top three Concacaf finishers qualify for the Women’s U-17 World Cup, 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four teams each with the winner of each group and the best second place team qualifying for the World Cup, set for October-November 2026 in Morocco.
The Concacaf U-17 Women’s Qualifiers format includes two rounds: Round One and the Final Round. For Round One, 28 nations – all ranked fifth and below based on the Concacaf U-17 Women's Ranking – were split into six groups. After round-robin play between January 24 and February 2, eight teams progressed to the Final Round, joining the Confederation’s four best-ranked teams.
The Final Round will also be played in a group format with three groups of four teams each. The 12 participating teams are: Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the United States who were all pre-seeded; Dominican Republic, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Costa Rica, and El Salvador, which were the six Round One group winners; and Bermuda and Nicaragua, which were the best second-place finishers in Round One.
The other two groups feature Canada, El Salvador, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua in Group A and Mexico, host Costa Rica, Panama and Jamaica in Group C.
2026 CONCACAF WOMEN’S U-17 QUALIFIERS – FINAL ROUND GROUPS
| Group A | Group B | Group C |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | USA | Mexico |
| El Salvador | Puerto Rico | Costa Rica (Host) |
| Dominican Republic | Haiti | Panama |
| Nicaragua | Bermuda | Jamaica |
With the expanded annual U-17 Women’s World Cup, the Concacaf region has been allocated an additional fourth berth. The next four editions of the tournament will be held in Morocco.
Last year’s change in format means the USA can no longer win a Concacaf U-17 Women’s Championship, of which it has won six and the most recent four in a row. The USA won the Concacaf U-17 Women’s Championship in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2018, 2022 and 2024.
Just three countries thus far have qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. In addition to host Morocco, New Zealand and Samoa have qualified from Oceania via 2025 OFC U-16 Women's Championship.