CONCACAF SETS FALL GOLD CUP VENUE  13th August 2010

The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, CONCACAF, has announced the groups and dates for the CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2010. The ’s tournament, which will serve as the qualification tournament for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany 2011, will feature eight teams participating in Cancún and Playa del Carmen, Mexico. In the August 2010 FIFA Coca Cola World Rankings, Canada has slipped to 13th place its lowest ranking ever.

The 2010 format features eight teams separated into two groups, with Canada, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana in one group and the USA, Costa Rica, Haiti and Guatemala in the opposing group.

Matches will be played at Estadio Beto Ávila in Cancún and Estadio Unidad Deportiva in Playa del Carmen. The top-two teams advance to the final and qualify for Germany 2011. The third-place team qualifies for a qualification playoff against the fifth-place team from Europe.

Canada finished second at each of the last two CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cups, both times finishing runner-up to confederation champion USA. With each finish, Canada qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup (USA 2003 and China 2007), thus bringing its string to four consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cups.

Canada previously qualified for USA 1999 by finishing first at the 1998 CONCACAF Women’s Championship and for Sweden 1995 by finishing second at the 1994 CONCACAF Women’s Championship.

Canada now has its sights set on a fifth-straight qualification with hopefully another top-two finish at the confederation championship.

The schedule and venue are announced at a time when FIFA President Seb Blatter talks about the increasing number of participants at FIFA Women's Tournaments. He notes, "the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015 will have 24 participating countries. We’re making progress, but we have to look to the future but with a watchful eye.

Blatter points out that Women’s football is now being played in every different culture, even in Iran, whose U-15 team is taking part in the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. This is how it should be, since women have the right to play. In handball, basketball and volleyball, if you’re not big then you don’t stand a chance, but anyone can play football, since kicking a ball is an instinctive thing.

What FIFA wants is for women’s football to be recognized everywhere, and that will be the job of the next FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2011.