The 2018 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organized by CONCACAF for the women's under-17 national teams of the North, Central American and Caribbean region. The tournament was initially to be hosted by Nicaragua, and was planned to take place between 19 – 29 April 2018, as announced by CONCACAF on 5 December 2017. A total of eight teams participated in the tournament.

On 22 April 2018, four days into the tournament, CONCACAF announced the remainder of the championship was cancelled immediately due to security concerns caused by civil unrest in Nicaragua. On 11 May 2018, CONCACAF announced the tournament would resume play on 6 June and conclude on 12 June 2018, with the remainder of the tournament hosted at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, United States. Six teams played in the remainder of the tournament, as Nicaragua and Puerto Rico were already eliminated and were set to face each other in their last match.

The top three teams of the tournament qualified for the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Uruguay as the CONCACAF representatives.

Defending champions United States won their fourth title, after defeated Mexico in the final.

Qualification

Regional qualification tournaments were held to determine the teams playing in the final tournament.

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

TeamQualificationAppearancePrevious best performancesPrevious FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup appearancesNorth American Zone (NAFU) Automatic 6th Champions (2010) 5 Automatic 6th Champions (2013) 4 Automatic 6th Champions (2008, 2012, 2016) 3Central American Zone (UNCAF) qualified through Central American qualifying competition Hosts 1st Debut 0 Group stage winners 4th Runners-up (2008) 2Caribbean Zone (CFU) qualified through Caribbean qualifying competition Final round winners 4th Fourth place (2016) 0 Final round runners-up 1st Debut 0 Final round third place 2nd Group stage (2008) 0

Venues All matches of the original tournament in Nicaragua were played at Nicaragua National Football Stadium in Managua. All matches of the rescheduled tournament in the United States were played at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

Draw The draw of the tournament was held on 31 January 2018, 15:00 EST (UTC−5), at the CONCACAF Headquarters in Miami, Florida, United States.

The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. Tournament hosts Nicaragua were seeded in position A1, while defending champions United States were seeded in position B1. The remaining six teams were allocated to pots 2–3, and drawn to the remaining six positions.

Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3

Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 2001 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team must register a squad of 20 players, two of whom must be goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 15.C.2).

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

Tiebreakers Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 18.A.5): Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Drawing of lots.

All times are local, CST (UTC−6) for Nicaragua and EDT (UTC−4) for the United States.

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage In the semi-finals, if the match is level at the end of 90 minutes, no extra time is played and the match is decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the third place match and final, if the match is level at the end of 90 minutes, extra time is played, and if still tied after extra time, the match is decided by a penalty shoot-out (Regulations Articles 11.C and 11.D).

Bracket

Semi-finals Winners qualify for 2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.

Third place match Winner qualifies for 2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.

Final

Winners

Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The following three teams from CONCACAF qualified for the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.

Team Qualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup1 3 (2008, 2012, 2016) 4 (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016) 5 (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016) 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Goalscorers

5 goals

Melchie Dumornay Alison González Sunshine Fontes

4 goals

Natalia Mauleón

3 goals

Andersen Williams María Paula Salas Flero Surpris Nayeli Díaz Nicole Pérez Maya Doms

2 goals

Kaila Novak Priscila Chinchilla Aylín Avilez Mia Fishel Reilyn Turner

1 goal

Jadae Steede Hill Leilanni Nesbeth Teni Akindoju Jordyn Huitema Jayde Riviere Daniela Contreras Carmen Marín Milan Pierre Vanessa Buso Reyna Reyes Anette Vázquez Isabel Cacho Hannah Bebar Sophia Jones Samantha Kroeger Payton Linnehan Makenna Morris Diana Ordoñez Kennedy Wesley Astrid Wheeler

1 own goal

Jeimy Umaña Valeria Roblero

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

Golden BallGolden BootGolden Glove Melchie Dumornay Alison González Angelina Anderson CONCACAF Fair Play Award

Best XI Goalkeeper: Angelina Anderson Right Back: Reyna Reyes Center Back: Kennedy Wesley Center Back: Tanna Sánchez Left Back: Kate Wiesner Center Midfielder: Sophia Jones Center Midfielder: Melchie Dumornay Center Midfielder: Nicole Pérez Winger/Right Midfielder: Samantha Meza Winger/Left Midfielder: Natalia Mauleón Forward: Sunshine Fontes

Notes

References

External links Under 17s – Women, CONCACAF.com