Qualifying for the 2015 Women's World Cup, doubling as the 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship, will take place in four cities on the East Coast and in the Midwest of the United States from Oct. 15-26, FOX Soccer has learned.
The United States women's national team and seven other teams from North- and Central American and the Caribbean will play for three direct berths to next summer's tournament in Canada in two four-team groups, which will each send two teams to the semifinals following a round-robin. The loser of the third-place game will take on a South American country in a playoff for the final ticket to the Women's World Cup.
The games will take place in Chicago, Kansas City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. The USA, Mexico, Costa Rica and Guatemala have already qualified and will be joined by the four semifinalists of the Women's Caribbean Cup happening in August. (Canada, as the tournament host, doesn't need to qualify.) The games will be aired on the FOX Sports family of networks, as will the 2015 Women's World Cup.
"We are honored to serve as the local organizing committee for this tournament as we continue to support and grow women's soccer in this region on a large scale," said U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati. "The second season of the NWSL has been exciting to follow, and this tournament provides fans with another opportunity to see some of the best women's soccer players in the world compete on the international level.
"With the tremendous success and popularity of the men's World Cup here in the United States this summer, we are looking forward to carrying that momentum right through to the Women's World Cup in Canada and beyond."
Group A and B will play their first matches in double-headers at Sporting Park in Kansas City on Oct. 15 and 16, respectively. They will then move on to Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill. for Oct. 17 and 18 matches.
And finally, they will conclude group play at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC on Oct. 20 and 21. The semifinals -- pitting the Group A winner against the Group B runner-up and vice versa -- will be played at PPL Park in Chester, PA on Oct. 24, followed by the final and third-place playoff on Oct. 26.
The draw and kickoff times will be set in Miami on Sept. 5.
