We close with a look at the first round matches of the 2025-26 CONCACAF Women’s W Championship involving 29 teams, which also doubles at the regional qualifiers for the next Women’s World Cup in Brazil in 2027.
AFC Women’s Champions League Group Stage Qualifiers
The AFC Women’s Champions League Group Stage Qualifiers were held in November 2025, with twelve clubs divided among three four-team groups: (see our review of the preliminary stage qualifiers at the end of August: The Week in Women's Football: Focusing on Bangladesh ahead of Asian Cup; Europa Cup review - TribalFootball.com). Eight sides advanced to the one-leg quarterfinals in March of 2026, with the semifinals and finals set for May.
Group A
Melbourne City easily won the group with 3 wins, with 15 goals for and none allowed, led by Australian international Holly McNamara’s (22) three goals—two penalties in their opening 5-0 win over Lion City Sailors of Singapore and a first minute winner in their 3-0 win over Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam in the third match.
Host side Ho Chi Minh City finished second with 6 points while Stallion Laguna of Philippines was third with three points. All three sides advanced to the eight team knockout stage next March. Lion City Sailors of Singapore was bottom with zero points, with no goals scored and 12 allowed.
Group B
Host side and reigning champions Wuhan Jiangda of China topped the group with seven points. Nasaf of Uzbekistan pulled the only points off of Wuhan with a 1-1 tie in the second match and finished second with four points, with both sides advancing to the quarterfinals. East Bengal of India and Bam Khatoon of Iran finished on third points—third and fourth, respectively on goal difference (-3 vs -5), with Bam Khatoon not matching last year’s quarterfinal berth, where they lost narrowly to Incheon Red Angels of Korea Republic 1-0.
Group C
Tokyo Verdy Beleza of Japan won the group with 7 points (2-1-0) while Naegohyang of DPR Korea finished second on six points. Tokyo opened the group with a surprising 4-0 defeat of Naegohyang.
Naegohyang’s 3-0 defeat of Suwon of neighboring Korea Republic doomed Suwon to third on four points, but they still were one of the two best third place teams and advanced to the next round. ISPE of Mynamar, the host side, finished bottom with zero points, zero goals for and 9 allowed.
For the Asian club finals next March in Australia, eight teams advanced from the Group Stage, with the draw to be held in January:
Melbourne City of Australia
Suwon of Korea Republic—debut
Tokyo Verdy Beleza of Japan—debut
Wuhan Jiangda of China—2024-25 AFC Women’s Champions League title winners
Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam
Naegohyang of DPR Korea
Nasaf of Uzbekistan
Santos Laguna of Philippines
2025 African Champions League Finals
Moroccan club AS FAR won the 2025 African Women’s Champions League after defeating ASEC Mimosas 2-1 in the championship final on November 21. AS FAR are now two-time winners of the competition after claiming the trophy for the first time in 2022. (See our tournament preview in: The Week in Women's Football: AFCON qualifiers recap; Chad win FIFA Unites title - TribalFootball.com).
In Group A, the two North African sides—AS FAR of Morocco (7 points) and host side FC Masar of Egypt (5 points) advanced over West African sides USFAS Bamako of Mali (4 points) and FC 15 de Agosto of Equatorial Guinea (0 points), who finished with 1 goal for and 8 against.
In Group B, ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast (7 points) and TP Mazembe of Democratic Republic of the Congo (5 points) advanced over JKT Queens of Tanzania (2 points) and Gaborone United (1 point), who scored no goals but allowed 7 goals. ASEC was the only side out of four debutants—USFAS Bamako, FC 15, and Gaborone were the others—to advance to the semifinals.
In the semifinals on November 18, AS Far advanced to the championship final, overcoming TP Mazembe 4-2 on penalties after a 0-0 tie. ASEC Mimosas defeated FC Masar 1-0 on a 73rd minute goal from midfielder Essi Dagba (22). In the final on November 21, AS FAR won the African title for the second time, defeating ASEC Mimosas 2-1. Moroccan international defender Hanane Ait El Haj, who has scored 2 goals in 78 internationals, opened the scoring for ASFAR in the 13th minute from the penalty spot. Ivory Coast international forward Ami Diallo (25) tied the match for ASEC in the 55th minute before Moroccan international defender Zenib Redouani (25)—who has 2 goals in 42 senior internationals—scored the winner for the Moroccans in the 85th minute, again from the penalty spot; she also was named the Woman of the Championship Final. AS FAR lost the 2024 final to TP Mazembe of DR Congo.
This year, TP Mazembe finished third by defeating Masar 3-1 in the consolation final. With the win, AS FAR qualified for the 2026 FIFA Women’s Club World Cup play-offs.
AS FAR of Morocco defeated ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast 2-1 in the 2025 CAF Women’s Champions League final at the Suez Canal Authority Stadium in Egypt on November 21, 2025.
The tournament’s leading scorer was attacking midfielder Marlene Kasaj (29) of DR Congo with four goals. She began her senior club career with AC Leopards in the Republic of the Congo and then moved to Amani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2021, she moved to Turkey to join the Super League club Adana İdmanyurduspor. In July of 2022, she transferred to the Gaziantep-based league champion ALG Spor ALG Spor, where she played in the 2022-23 UEFA Women’s Champions League. She joined TP Mazembe for the 2024 season from Turkey.
2025-26 CONCACAF W Championship first set of Qualifiers
The 2027 Women’s World Cup Qualifying has started in North America, Central America and the Caribbean with the first qualifiers for the 2025-26 CONCACAF W Championship (which doubles as the 2027 Women’s World Cup qualifiers for the region) with six groups—five with five teams and one with four teams—which began at the end of November and will conclude in April 2026. The group winners will advance to the finals, where they will join Canada and the U.S., who have byes based on their past records.
CONCACAF W Championship Qualifiers Graphic is courtesy of CONCACAF.com.
Nations that did not enter the qualifiers were:
Bahamas
British Virgin Islands
All of the following nations are not members of FIFA and cannot qualify for the WWC finals and did not participate:
Bonaire
French Guiana
Guadeloupe
Martinique
Montserrat
Saint Martin
Sint Maarten
Turks and Caicos Islands
The first matches (shown by day) are as follows:
November 27, 2025
Antigua and Barbuda 0 vs. Nicaragua 4
Nicaragua built a 3-0 lead by the half-hour mark in their 4-0 win away in St. John’s against Antigua and Barbuda. American-raised Nathaly Silva, who played at Long Beach City College in California, opened the scoring in the 10th minute, while Sheyla Flores (27) scored in the 19th minute—she has played professionally in El Salvador with Alianza, in Costa Rica with Saprissa and at home with multiple clubs.
U.S. Virgin Islands 3 vs. St. Lucia 1
In St. Croix, U.S Virgin Islands defeated St. Lucia 3-1 with defender Naya Vialva scoring the first goal in the 10th minute. She played collegiately at La Salle, Rutgers and Grambling State. Lita Frost of Georgia Southwestern State scored the ultimate winner in the 33rd minute with a header from a corner kick. Saint Lucia pulled one back just before half time as Krysan St. Louis (22), who grew up on the island in Vieux Fort and plays collegiately at Texas A&M International University, scored past USVI goalkeeper Jenna Rehm (23), who played at small college programs Carson Newman and Trevecca Nazarene in Tennessee. Reagan Hood, who is still in high school in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, scored USVI’s third goal in the 49th minute. Jenna Rehm saved a 91st penalty attempt from Arnicka Louis of St. Louis to leave the final score as 3-1. Arnicka Louis plays at Indian Hills Community College in Iowa, where she is a sophomore.
Cayman Islands 0 vs. Bermuda 4
Bermuda built a 2-0 lead over Cayman Islands within the first 13 minutes and led 3-0 by halftime. Midfielder Eva Frazzoni (28) scored the ultimate winning goal in the second minute; she plays in England at AFC Sudbury. She has also played in Sweden and in college in the U.S. at the College of St. Rose in Albany, New York. Kenni Thompson (24) scored the second goal in the 13th minute and has been in the youth academies of Barcelona and Chelsea; she also tried out for Spain’s U-16 national team in the past. The final goal for Bermuda was scored in the 68th minute by Nia Christopher (24), who came to the U.S. from Bermuda as a 15-year-old to study. She is currently with Fort Lauderdale United in the USL Super League.
November 28 - Antigua 1 vs. Surinam 3
Rachel Van Netten (24), a recent Dutch diaspora signing who plays with DSS in the Netherlands after moving from AZ Alkmaar in February of 2023, scored twice as Surinam defeated Antigua 3-1 on the road in the Valley. Another import from the Netherlands—19-year-old Estelle Pereira, who joined Sparta Rotterdam this season after two seasons at Excelsior Rotterdam—opened the scoring for Surinam in the seventh minute. For the hosts, Carlia Johnson, who played for Superstars FC in the Antigua Women’s League and plays collegiately at Trinidad State in Colorado, scored in the 91st minute.
Aruba 2 vs. St. Kitts and Nevis 1
Aruba is another team utilizing their diaspora from Netherlands and used goals by forward Tarianna Doomkamp (22) of Forum Sport in the Netherlands (43rd minute) and defender Genesis Hazel (18) just past the hour mark to offset Phoenetia Browne’s (31) goal for St. Kitts and Nevis in the 36th minute in Oranjestad. Brown was born in the Bronx in New York City, played at Colombia and Texas Universities and is with Espanyol after a year at Valencia of Spain, after playing for clubs in Iceland, Romania, Finland, Germany and France (with Saint-Etienne for two seasons). She scores at over a goal a game clip for her country.
November 29 - Dominica 0 vs. Jamaica 18
Held in Gros Islet St. Lucia, Jamaica was streets ahead of Dominica, with Konya Plummer (28) opening the scoring in the 2nd minute as Jamaica raced to a 10-0 lead by half-time of an ultimate 18-0 victory, a record winning margin for their women’s national team. Khadija Shaw (28) of Manchester City and Jody Brown (23) of Marseille in France’s Ligue 1, after a season with Benfica of Portugal, both scored hat tricks, while Kiki van Zanten (24) of the Houston Dash, Deneisha Blackwood (28) of Cruz Azul in Mexico City, Sheneil Buckley (20), who recently committed to playing at Florida State University, and Natasha Thomas (29) of Ipswich Town in England all had braces.
Plummer has played with the Orlando Pride of the NWSL, with AIK in Stockholm, Sweden, UANL Tigres in Monterrey, Mexico in 2023-24 (scoring twice in 16 matches) and went to Turkey in 2024 with Fenerbache. Buckley is an up-and-coming forward to watch in a team blessed with them. She played two seasons at Daytona State Community College, where she was a junior college All-American and scored the winning goal in the national championship match in 2024.
She had 38 goals in 38 games (37 starts) and 17 assists. She signed last month with Florida State University, where Jody Brown had an outstanding career. At home, she played for three-time national champions and CONCACAF W Champions Cup participant Frazsier Whip SC. Natasha Thomas is English-born and joined Ipswich Town in 2015 and is the club’s all-time appearance leader with over 200 matches.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines 0 vs. Mexico 14
Veronica Corral of Pachuca, the 2024-25 Clausura champions and the Campeón de Campeonas—between the winners of the two halves of the 2024-25 season title, defeating Monterrey last summer in San Antonio, Texas—scored seven goals while Jacqueline Ovalle (see: The Week in Women's Football: Ovalle explains joining Orlando Pride; WPSL, W-League and UWS review - TribalFootball.com) scored a hat-trick in Kingstown.
Grenada 1 vs. Costa Rica 2
La Sele Femenina (The Women’s Selection) avoided a huge upset as the two time WWC Finalist (2015 and 2023) came from behind to defeat Grenada 2-1. Grenada went up in the 32nd minute when team captain Naomi Bedeau (25) picked up a deflected ball close to goal with no one guarding her and scored, but Costa Rica were rescued by their Russian-based forward Priscilla Chinchilla (24) with a goal in first half injury time and the winner around the hour mark.
Raquel “Rocky” Rodriguez (32), who won the NWSL Shield for the regular season title this season with Kansas City Current, had a 71st minute penalty attempt saved by goalkeeper Rashida Herry (34), who plays at home with Paradise. Chinchilla is in her second season with FC Zenit in St. Petersburg; she has also played at Pachuca in Mexico, Glasgow City of Scotland after staring her professional career at home with Alajuelense. Bedeau (24) is from England and is in her second season with Nottingham Forest, who play in the third tier FA Women’s National League Northern Premier Division.
November 30 - Curacao 1 vs. Panama 6
In Willemstad on November 30, Panama opened the scoring through Karla Riley (28), who has played for clubs in Panama, Spain and Mexico (with Cruz Azul), in the fourth minute. Panama scored five goals in the second half to offset a counter by Curacao from Shi-jona Martina (20)—who was born in the Netherlands and is in her second season with Excelsior after three seasons with PSV Eindhoven—in the 71st minute. Erica Arauz (22) of Rayadas de Chiriquí in Panama, scored a second half brace within seven minutes and the last goal came from American-born Riley Tanner (26), of Sydney FC in Australia’s Ninja A-League, in the 92nd minute.
Belize 0 vs. Haiti 9
2023 WWC Finalists Haiti overwhelmed Belize 9-0 in Belmopan, with Nerilia Mondesir (26), who joined the Seattle Reign on July 29 during the 2024 season, scoring four times. Batcheba Louis (28)—who joined Birmingham City of the WSL2 this season and has four goals in eight matches, after three seasons with Fleury in France, where she had 12 goals in 46 matches—and Melchie Dumornay (22) of OL Lyonnes in France each added two goals in the rout.
December 1 - Barbados 0 vs. Trinidad and Tobago 5
On December 5 in Bridgetown, Trinidad and Tobago defeated host nation Barbados 5-0. Kenya Cordner (37) scored the winning goal in the 12th minute. She is with Turkish side Beylebeyi and has played for clubs in Australia, China, England, Norway, Paraguay, Sweden, Turkey and the U.S.
Puerto Rico 7 vs. St. Lucia 0
On December 1 in Bayamon, Jill Aguilera (27) of the Carolina Ascent of the USL Super League scored four times to power Puerto Rico to a 7-0 win over St. Lucia.
Guyana 1 vs Nicaragua 3
Sheyla Flores scored again for Nicaragua, in the third minute, while Doriana Aguilar (31) of Real Esteli in Nicaragua also scored her second goal of the qualifiers in the team’s second consecutive win, over Guyana 3-1 away.
Guatemala 4 vs. Bermuda 1
Maria Monterroso (31) scored two goals for Guatemala in their 4-1 win at home over Bermuda. Monterroso was born in Guatemala City, played collegiately in the States at Lyon College in Arkansas and Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona, and has played for years in Spain. Her sister Coralia also played for Guatemala’s WNT, at one time for their father when he was the head coach a decade ago.
December 2 - Cuba 2 vs Saint Kitts and Nevis 2
Cuba and St. Kitts and Nevis had one of only two ties—both on December 2—from the first set of CONCACAF qualifiers, in the southern Cuba city of Santiago de Cuba. Cecil Aldana (22) who has scored 43 goals in 52 games with Liga de Quito in Ecuador since 2023. She started her career in 2022 with Granma, based in southern Cuba, of the Cuba National Football League.
El Salvador 3 vs. Honduras 0
U.S.-born midfielder Danielle Fuentes (25) scored the winning goal in the third minute of El Salvador’s 3-0 win over neighbor Honduras. Fuentes played collegiately at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and the University of South Alabama. She has played professionally since 2023 in Mexico, first with Necaxa in Aguascalientes in Central Mexico, then Cruz Azul in Mexico City and joined Tijuana on the U.S. border near San Diego for the 2025-26 s. She helped El Salvador finish third at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games, a multi-sport event that El Salvador hosted.
Dominican Republic 2 vs. Surinam 2
Suriname did a fine job in holding emerging regional Caribbean power Dominican Republic to a 2-2 tie in Moca. Suriname built a 2-0 lead by the fifth minute as Isabelle Hoekstra (22) of Espanol of Spain scored in the third minute and Chante Dompig (24) of AC Milan in Italy doubled the lead two minutes later.
Mia Gayle Asenjo scored in the 16th and 85th minutes to rescue the tie for DR. Asenjo was born and raised in New York State, went to the University of Central Florida from 2021-2024 (and are one of the best college teams I have seen in the past five years) and now plays in Spain with DUX Logrono.
The Surinam squad for the first W Championship matches included 21 players who are all playing for clubs in Europe: Netherlands (13), Italy (2), Spain (2), Belgium (1), Czech Republic (1), England (1) and Scotland (1). Interestingly, no squad members are based at home, which would be a long-term goal for the SVB (Surinamese Voetbal Bond—Football Association) to build the local league and eventually wean itself off of being so dependent on their diaspora.
Jon Arnold, a good friend who is the publisher of the excellent newsletter and website Getting CONCACAFed, recently was in Surinam for a recent men’s World Cup Qualifier and also studied the Surinam WNT. The Federation’s plan is to mirror what the men’s side did during the 2026 men’s World Cup qualifying cycle, when they just missed achieving a men’s World Cup Finals direct berth but are still alive as they qualified for the intercontinental playoffs.
They were led by former Ajax of Netherlands goalkeeper Stanley Menzo, who just resigned on December 1, and utilized a side composed primarily of Dutch diaspora. SVB General Manager Brian Tevreden is applying the same blueprint from the men’s side to the women’s Natio Uma team. After taking four points from their road matches in Anguilla and Dominican Republic (see above), they face Haiti’s Les Grenadieres and Belize at home next Spring and are well placed to win the group, though Haiti will be very competitive with their experience at the 2023 WWC Finals.
Tevreden said: “We had to do it step-by-step. It’s a process. When we took players from abroad, we took players from a level underneath the professional level for two years. You have to take steps and show the professional women that we wanted to do this.”
Two years ago, Surinam lost to Mexico and Puerto Rico but defeated Anguilla and Antigua and Barbuda. He then could pitch their professional diaspora on the plan, with a number of current professional players signing up to represent Suriname in this qualification cycle, including: AC Milan of Italy duo Chanté Dompig (24) and Kay-Lee De Sanders(27), Crystal Palace of England’s Ashleigh Weerden (26) and Glasgow Rangers of Scotland forward Quinty Sabajo (26)—who all had played for Netherlands at the youth level and were born there but now play for the nation of their parents. They joined Ravalcheny van Ommeren and Naomi Pique (25) who had joined the team for the games two years ago.
Weerden actually played three senior internationals for Netherlands in 2019-2020 and explained her decision on Instagram: “Today I am at one crossroads. With pride and gratitude, I look back on everything I did) at the KNVB (Dutch Football Federation), have experienced, but today I am ready for one new chapter. I chose to come out for the SVB (Surinam Football Association) and thus represent my Surinamese roots. One tribute to my family, my friends and the community that has always supported me.”
Former Hearts and Leicester City forward Mark de Vries, who recently managed AZ’s women’s team in the Netherlands, came on as coach for the 2025-26 qualifiers. He talked about the criticism of Surinam’s WNT model in relying on their diaspora, with some referring to the team as “Dutch mercenaries” or “the Netherlands B team” by countering that: “They are afraid of us, of course, because we are developed very fast in a short period of time. We have very good players, and there are still players coming in, even on the men’s side, but also on the women’s side. Now, they’re taking Suriname serious(ly), and they notice us.”
Tevreden added: “When everybody from the youngest playing for the Suriname team, I think we are really unstoppable. That’s what I believe. That’s why the criticism is all there, that we are Dutch. We are not Dutch. We are raised in Holland, but what we are is Surinamese.”
On the men’s side Curacao made the 2026 World Cup with a heavy reliance on their diaspora while Indonesia advanced to the fourth round, having brought in former Netherlands international Patrick Kluivert as head coach and some diaspora from the Netherlands.
The CONCACAF qualifiers resume on February 26 through March 6 for the next set of matches, with TribalFootball.com will continue to follow.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women’s football. Get your copy today. Follow Tim on X: @TimGrainey