We review the group stage involving 29 teams for CONCACAF’s W Championship, which doubles as the region’s WWC qualifiers for 2027 in Brazil, focusing on Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Jamaica, Panama, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago.
2025-26 Saudi Arabia Women’s Premier League Review
Al-Nassr won their third consecutive championship and qualified for the 2026-27 AFC Women’s Champions League, clinching the league title with two rounds remaining. Initially, ten teams were set to compete in the fourth season as Abha and NEOM were promoted after last season from the First Division to replace two relegated sides Al-Amal and Al-Taraji.
However, by August of last year, Abha and Al-Shabab had shut down their women’s sides, so the league again went forward with eight teams. Al-Nassr dominated again this season—in 14 goals, they scored 55 goals and only allowed 12.
Imports per team in the Premier League in 2025-26
We review the imports for the Premier League during the 2025-26 season, which in just three years has competed with top leagues in Europe and America for players and signed some very impressive stars each season; this year has been no exception.
Al-Nassr had six imports on their squad in 2025-26: two from Brazil and one each from DR Congo, France, Portugal and Tanzania.
French youth international midfielder Nesrine Bahlouli (23) is in her second season with Al-Nassr after previously playing with Lyon in France, AC Milan in Italy and back in France with Bordeaux on loan from the latter.
Their new coach this season was Rudy Eka Priyambada (43) of Indonesia, who formerly coached their U-19 and senior WNT. In September 2021, under Priyambada, Indonesia qualified for the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup for the first time since 1989 after a 33 year absence.
In the final tournament in India however, Indonesia lost all of their matches without scoring a goal, including an 18—0 defeat against Australia, Indonesia’s worst defeat all-time; they surrendered 28 goals in total in a group which also had Philippines and Thailand. They did not qualify for the recent 2026 Asian Finals in Australia. In his first season in Saudi Arabia, he captured a league title, which is a laudable achievement even with historically the best team in the league.
Al-Ahli had six imports in 2025-26, with one each from Cameroon, DR Congo, Ghana, Jordan, Morocco and the U.S.
Cameroon international midfielder Charlene Meyong was a new signing this season for Al-Ahli, having helped London City win promotion to the WSL1 last season. She also played in France with Reims and in China with Miezhou Hakka after time at home with Louves Minproff in Yaounde American goalkeeper Lindsay Harris is in her third season with Al-Qadsiah, after time in the NWSL, Portugal, Norway and Iceland. The former University of North Carolina keeper is the only American in the Saudi Arabian Premier League this season.
Defender Ayah Al-Majali (34) is approaching 150 caps with Jordan’s WNT since her debut in 2006. She started out playing for Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia and then moved to Al Ahli, where she is in her third season; she previously spent time with Olimpia Cluj in Romania, Konak Belediyespor in Turkey and multiple clubs at home in the Jordan Women’s Football League.
Al-Ahli’s head coach since 2022-23 has been Manar Fraij (37) of Jordan, who doubles as Jordan’s WNT assistant coach and is a former player. She has won the SAFF (Saudi Arabia Football Federation) Women’s Cup in 2023-24 and 2024-25 with Al-Ahli.
Al-Ittihad’s imports included two from Nigeria, and one each from Algeria, Brazil, Slovenia and Spain.
English-born Nigerian international defender Ashleigh Plumptre (27) is in her third season with Al-Ittihad and the 2023 WWC Finals revelation is still one of the most-high profile import signings within the Premier League.
Al-Qadsiah had two imports from Brazil and one each from Cameroon, France, Germany and Iceland.
German international forward Dzsenifer Maroszan (33) has 112 caps (with 33 goals) and was a huge signing for the Premier League in 2025-26. She was born in Hungary but moved with her family to Germany at age four. She played for Lyon for ten years and had a short spell in the NWSL in 2021 on loan with the OL Reign (now Seattle Reign).
She started her career with FC Saarbrucken before moving to 1. FFC Frankfurt. She won an incredible six UEFA Women’s Champions League titles (five with Lyon and one with Frankfurt), eight league titles—seven with Lyon and a second division title with Saarbrucken and a UEFA Women’s Championship in 2013 and FIFA U-20 WWC in 2010 with Germany at home.
Al Hilal’s imports came from Cameroon, France, Morocco Nigeria, Portugal and Spain.
Nigerian international Asisat Oshoala (31) moved to Saudi Arabia’s Premier League after two sub-par seasons with Bay FC in the NWSL. She has scored 36 goals in 67 senior internationals for Nigeria and, after her time with Liverpool and Barcelona, is still one of the top African players in the game today. She was the Golden Boot and Golden Ball winner at the 2014 U-20 WWC in Canada and played at the last three Women’s World Cup Finals as well as at the 2024 Olympic Games Finals in Paris. This season, she finished sixth in her new league in scoring with nine goals.
Another new player for Al Hilal this season was another top African player in forward Ghizlane Chebbak (35) of Morocco, the inspirational leader of their national side for years. She played at home with AS FAR for over a decade and then moved to Spain with Levante last season before switching to Al Hilal for the 2025-26 season. She won 10 league titles in Morocco with AS FAR and one African Champions League crown, while with the national team she captured two WAFCON silver medals and was named the African Women’s Footballer of the Year in 2025.
A major signing for Al Hilal this season was Portuguese international forward Jessica Silva (31), who has 20 goals in 129 caps since 2011, after playing two seasons with Gotham FC in the U.S. and winning the first CONCACAF Champions Cup last season. She has also played in Portugal, Sweden, Spain and France, winning a league and UEFA WCL double with Lyon on 2019-20.
Al-Ula utilized two imports from Bosnia and Herzegovina, two from Brazil and one each from Cameroon and France.
Amel Majri (33) has been an iconic winger for Olympique Lyon for almost two decades and was a full international for France, making 82 appearances from 2014-2025. She requested a move from Lyon last August, which was granted and she then signed with Al-Ula. On September 18, in her first match against NEOM, she came on as a substitute with 20 minutes left and scored her first league goal 13 minutes later in a 1-1 draw. She was born in Tunisia and played for their U-20 side before switching to France, where she primarily grew up.
Cameroon international Rose Bella (31) moved to Al-Ula this season from Amed in Turkey, where she has played for five different sides in the nation since 2021-22. She previously played for Malabo Kings in Equatorial Guinea and Police in Cameroon.
NEOM, who were promoted for 2025-26 after winning the First Division (second tier) title in 2024-25, had five imports—one each from Cameroon, France, Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago and Tunisia
Midfielder Maria-Frances Serrant (23) of Trinidad and Tobago grew up in Port of Spain, played collegiately in the States at Corban University in Salem, Oregon and West Texas A&M University. She played last season at BIIK Shymkent in Kazakhstan before moving to Saudi Arabia for 2025-26.
Midfielder Chaima Abbassi has been capped over 30 times by Tunisia since 2013 and came to Saudi Arabia in 2022-23 to join Al Yamamah for the first year of the Premier League; she then moved to Al-Shabab and is in her second season with NEOM.
Goalkeeper Manon Heil (29) was a French youth international at multiple age groups and was with FC Fleury 91 for the last five seasons. This is her first year playing outside of her home country.
Bottom side Eastern Flames, who have struggled in their four seasons in the Premier League, had five imports: one each from Brazil, Jordan, Spain, Venezuela and Zambia Forward Helen Chanda (27) has been with Zambia at the last two Olympic Games Finals and at the 2023 WWC. She has played at BIIK Shymkent in Kazakhstan, in Turkey for Hakkarigucu Spor last season and joined Eastern Flames for the current season.
Defender Lana Feras (27) of Jordan was with Al-Shabab for the past two seasons before moving to Eastern Flames. She has over 50 caps for Jordan’s WNT.
Forward Oriana Altuve (33) of Venezuela is approaching 25 full caps for Venezuela. She first played in Saudi Arabia with Al Shabab in 2023-24—scoring 14 goals in 14 games and then played in Spain with Deportivo la Coruna and in Turkey with Ankara BB Fomget before joining Eastern Flames for this season. She has also played professionally in Spain for multiple clubs and in Uruguay, Colombia and at home in Venezuela.
League Coaches
The league coaches come from eight different countries and are quite diverse, with five from Europe, two from Asia and one from CONCACAF:
Al Ahlie—Manar Fraij of Jordan
Al-Hilal—Luis Andrade of Portugal
Al-Ittihad—Paul Perez Rodriguez of Spain
Eastern Flames—Alfonso Mesa of Spain
Al-Nassr—Rudy Eka Priyambada of Indonesia
Al-Qadsiah—Carmelina Moscato of Canada
Al-Ula—Ray Farrugia of Malta
NEOM—Fabrice Abriel of France.
Carmelina Moscato moved from Racing Louisville of the NWSL last season, where she was an assistant coach, to join Al-Qadsiah. She won a league title in Liga MX Femenil with Tigres UANL in Monterrey and also coached women in Denmark at the club level and with her native Canada at the youth national team level.
Saudi Arabia’s 2025-26 season has 46 imports from 21 countries (down from 60 imports from 28 countries in 2024-25 season, which also had eight teams)
Brazil 8
Cameroon 5
France 5
Nigeria 3
Spain 3
Bosnia & Herzegovina 2
DR Congo 2
Morocco 2
Ghana 2
Jordan 2
Portugal 2
Algeria 1
Germany 1
Iceland 1
Slovenia 1
Tanzania 1
Trinidad and Tobago 1
Tunisia 1
U.S.A. 1
Venezuela 1
Zambia 1
2025-26 Premier League Top Scorers
Clara Luvanga Al-Nassr/Tanzania (24 goals)
Adriana Al-Qadsiah/Brazil (18 goals)
Ibtissam Jraidi of Al-Ahli/Morocco (14 goals)
Naomie Kaba-Kaba of Al-Ahli/DRC Congo (13 goals)
Lea Le Garrec of Al-Qadsiah/France (12 goals)
Asisat Oshoala of Al-Hilal (12 goals)
The top Saudi Arabian scorer is Fadwa Abdullah Abdulmohsen Khaled (21) with six goals for eleventh in the league; she is a full international who has played with Al-Ahli for four seasons, since the club was founded to join the new Saudi Arabia women’s pro league. Two of the top 19 goal scorers in the league—for those with four or more goals—were Saudi Arabian nations, with four of the top 26 goals scorers—for those with three or more goals.
There has been improvement in this metric over the past few years in the import-focused league as Saudi nationals represented only one of the top 21 league goal scorers in 2024-25—for those with four or more goals. In the 2023-24 season—the first with substantial investment in the women’s game, all of the league’s top 21 leading scorers were imports from the Americas, Europe, Africa and elsewhere in Asia.
Naomie Kaba-Kaba of Al-Ahli/DR Congo and Lea Le Garrec of Al-Qadsiah/France tied for the league lead with 13 assists.
Saudi Arabian Sara Al-Hamad (33) of Al-Nassr finished behind the top two with seven assists and is a full international with 19 senior caps and 11 appearances with their senior futsal side. She was the only Saudi Arabian national within the top 12 for assists.
Saudi First Division
Phoenix was relegated to the 2026-27 Saudi Second Division League.
The top three teams at the end of the season: champions Al-Taraji, Al-Nahda and Al-Amal all qualified for promotion to the 2026-27 Saudi Premier League, as it plans again to expand to 10 teams, with Al-Hmmah falling into fourth on the last day, after a 1-1 deadlock with Al-Taraji while Al-Amal won 6-1 over United Eagles and leap-frogged Al-Hmmah into third and the final promotion spot.
Imports per team in the First Division in 2025-26
For the first time, this column looks at the imports in the eight team First Division (second tier league) for each team.
Al-Traji utilized six imports in 2025-26: two from Brazil, one each from Bahrain, DR Congo, Tunisia and Zambia.
Grace Mfwamba (27) is a full international at DR Congo and is in her second season with Al-Traji, after time spent with Trabonspor and ALG Spor of Turkey, Malabo Kings of Equatorial Guinea and DCMP/Bikira and CSF Bikira in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambian international forward Siomala Mapepa (23) was on the 2022 COSAFA (Council of South Africa Football Associations) Championship winning side, the 2022 WAFCON and 2023 WWC Finals sides. She previously played in Turkey with Galatasaray and in Zambia with Elite Ladies.
Al-Nahda used five imports: two from Cameroon and one each from Bahrain, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast.Hessa Al-isa (30) has four goals in seven internationals for Bahrain and is also a futsal full international. In 2018-18 she joined the Al-Riffa Blue Pearls in Bahrain, where she scored 18 goals to lead the league in scoring. After a spell playing football and futsal in Kuwait, she moved to Saudia Arabia for the 2021-22 season to join Al-Mamlaka women’s football club (currently Al Nassr), competing in the first Saudi Women’s Football Championship and was the league’s top scorer, with five goals coming in a 7-0 win over second place WFC.
In 2022-23, Al Nassr acquired the franchise and Al-isa helped the side win the title, scoring 15 goals to finish joint third in the table. She graduated from the Bahraini Royal University for Women with a degree in Human Resources.
Al-Hmmah had six imports on their side, two each from Algeria and Senegal and one each from Brazil and Ghana.
Al-Amal used four imports, with one each from Egypt, Guinea, India and Uganda.
Kajol D’Souza (19) is a full international from India, who played at home with Sethu and Odisha. She played for India at the 2022 U-17 FIFA WWC which the nation hosted.
Forward Natasha Shirazi (30) was capped once by Uganda in 2016; she has played in Denmark, Spain, Israel, Turkey, Italy, Ireland, France and Greece.
Al-Yamouk had two imports from Burkina Faso along with one each from Ghana, Ivory Coast and Senegal.
Mouniratou Compaoré (28) is a full international with Burkina Faso. At home she won the league title with Armed Forces Sports Union (USFA) and led the league with 28 goals in 2021-22.
Balkissa Sawadogo (27) is another senior international with Burkina Faso. She also played with USFA at home and in Turkey with Antalyaspor of Turkey.
Najmat Jeddah had four imports, with one each from Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and the United States.
Lianna Gates plays for Najmat Jeddah and is a youth coach for Global Sports Partners in Saudi Arabia. She previously played with Al-Shabab Women’s side in Jeddah and at Columbia International University in Columbia, South Carolina.
United Eagles had five imports from Africa and one from Asia: Ivory Coast (2), Algeria (1) Kenya (1), Mali (1) and Palestine (1).
Bintou Koite (30) of Mali previously played in Morocco with Raja Casablanca and internationally with Mali at the 2016 and 2018 WAFCON Finals.
Etaf Al-Sawi (23) of Palestine joined Al-Nassr in 2022-23 and won two Division 1 titles there; she previously played for Al-Muharraq in Bahrain and won a futsal title in the nation. She also qualified to play for Jordan per FIFA ancestry rules.
Phoenix had eight imports who all came from African nations, with three each from Algeria and Tunisia and one each from Egypt and Ghana.
Saudi Arabia First Division League had 45 imports from 21 countries across their 8 teams:
Algeria 6
Ghana 5
Ivory Coast 5
Tunisia 4
Brazil 3
Senegal 3
Bahrain 2
Burkina Faso 2
Cameroon 2
Egypt 2
DR Congo 1
Ethiopia 1
Guinea 1
India 1
Kenya 1
Mali 1
Nigeria 1
Palestine 1
Uganda 1
U.S. 1
Zambia 1
2025-26 Division One League Top Scorers
Fanta Camara of Al-Amal/Guinea (34 goals)
Grace Mfwamba of Al-Taraji/DR Congo (18 goals)
Stephanie Gbogou of Najmat Jeddah/Ivory Coast (15 goals)
Yetunde Balogun of Najmat Jeddah/Nigeria with (13 goals)
Mariam Sidibe of Ivory Coast/Al-Yarmouk (12 goals)
The top 11 scorers in the First Division in 2026-27 were all imports. On the positive side for the growth of the Saudi Arabian WNT pool, eight goalkeepers posted at least one shutout for six teams and they were all Saudi Arabian internationals. Saudi Arabian U-20 international pool player Maria Al-Najjar (20) of second place side Al-Nahda led the league with five clean sheets; she played last season with United Eagles.
2026 CONCACAF W Championship Qualifiers
The group qualifiers for the 2026 CONCACAF W Championship involving 29 CONCACAF nations were held from November 17, 2025 through April 18, 2026. The six group winners advanced to the 2026 CONCACAF W Championship finals—joining the U.S. and Canada, who advanced as the highest rated teams in the region in the FIFA rankings as of August 2025—which will be held in November of 2026. The 2026 CONCACAF W Championship doubles as the regional qualifiers for the 2027 WWC in Brazil.
The single elimination tournament will begin with four quarterfinal matches, with the winners advancing directly to the 2027 WWC, with the four losers playing off, with the winners advancing to the FIFA Intercontinental Playoffs to contest for three final spots from ten sides around the world. In addition, the two CONCACAF W Championship finalists and the third-place finisher will secure a berth in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games Women’s Football Tournament. Should the United States—already qualified as host of the Olympics—finish as one of top three teams, CONCACAF’s final Olympic berth will be awarded to the fourth-place finisher.
From the group stage held over the past six months, the group winners advancing to the CONCACAF Finals are: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico and Panama. The CONCACAF W Championship is next, and will be held from November 27 to December 5 in two locations in Texas: the quarterfinals, semifinals and play-in matches will be held in Mansfield (about 20 minutes south of downtown Dallas), while Houston’s Shell Energy Stadium—the home of the NWSL Houston Dash and MLS Houston Dynamo—will host the third-place match and final. North Texas SC’s Texas Health Mansfield Stadium will open this summer, serving as a World Cup base camp for Czechia.
For the W Championship Finals, the quarterfinal pairings—based on rankings—will see the U.S face El Salvador, Canada meeting Panama, Mexico versus Haiti, and Jamaica against Costa Rica. El Salvador (which we will feature more below) is the only nation among the final eight which has never qualified for the Women’s World Cup Finals or even this stage of a CONCACAF Women’s Finals.
CONCACAF’s W Championship Final Round draw for 2026 has been set, with the matched held in Mansfield and Houston, Texas this November. Graphic courtesy of CONCACAF.
For the group stage, the teams were divided into six groups (five groups of five teams and one group of four), presented below with our review:
Group A: Mexico advanced with 12 points (4-0-0 W-D-L) as the group winners, with Puerto Rico second on nine points (3-0-1) as Mexico triumphed in the crucial meeting between the top two teams 6-0 in Toluca on April 18. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was third with six points (2-0-2), with two goals scored and 24 allowed, the U.S. Virgin Islands was fourth with three points (1-0-3), scoring 3 goals scored and surrendering 20, with Saint Lucia fifth with zero points (0-0-4), scoring only once while allowing 18 goals.
For Puerto Rico, forward Danielle Marcano (28) with Valencia of Spain and midfielder Maria Tapia (18) of the Carolina Ascent of the USL Super League were impactful diaspora from the States. Marcano was born in New Jersey and played at the University of Tennessee and then with two clubs each in Iceland and Turkey, joining Nantes for 2024-25 and then Valencia in Spain for the current season. She was a U.S. U-17 international but joined Puerto Rico in 2024. Tapia was first capped by PR last year and has appeared in two matches, including the final match defeat by Mexico.
Group B: Jamaica finished on top with 12 points (4-0-0), Nicaragua was second on nine points (3-0-1) after a very positive tournament performance, Guyana was third with six points (2-0-2), Antigua and Barbuda was fourth with one point (0-1-3), tied with Dominica (0-1-3), with the latter scoring only one goal and allowing 31. The key match of the group was March 2 in Managua where Jamaica used two goals from Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw to win 3-2. Jamaica will hope to qualify for their third consecutive WWC Finals since their debut in 2019 in France at the CONCACAF Finals in November. Nicaragua posted an important win against Grenada away (3-1) on December 1 in the remote West Demerara city of Lenora, Guyana, as the host side also narrowly missed the regional finals ahead of the 2023 WWC and had been improving, with a strong reliance on their North American diaspora.
Nicaragua closed out the group stage on April 18 with a 14-0 win over overmatched Dominica, with eight players scoring for Nicaragua, plus an own goal, with four tallies from Yessenia Flores (26), who played for Saprissa in Costa Rica in 2022-23 and is now with Real Esteli at home.
Jamaica played their last two group games at home at the National Stadium (known as “The Office”) in Kingston, defeating Antigua and Barbuda (4-0) on April 10 and Guyana (2-0) on April 18.
Manager Hubert Busby, ahead of those two matches, talked about their importance above the results: “The players haven’t been in (for a home game) for over a year now. I know they’re excited to come in and play in front of the Jamaican people. Obviously we’re excited for the fact we can be back on home soil, and I know we’ll have a good crowd at both games.”
The WNT is taking on the World Cup Finals quest from the men’s team, who fell just short of this summer’s finals in the U.S./Canada/Mexico, defeating New Caledonia 1-0 in the first playoff match but falling to DR Congo (1-0), on March 26 and March 31 respectively, with both games not terrific action to watch, partly due to the fact that they were played at altitude in neutral Guadalajara, Mexico.
Group C: Costa Rica finished in first and undefeated with 12 points (4-0-0) as Guatemala finished second with nine points (3-0-1), Bermuda was third with six points (2-0-2), Grenada was fourth with three points (1-0-3) and Cayman Islands was fifth with 0 points (0-0-4), with just one goal scored while allowing 41, with 21 coming in a 21-0 defeat to Costa Rica in Alajuela on April 10. Two players had hat-tricks in that match: Fenerbahçe of Turkey’s María Salas (23) and Kansas City Current’s Rachel “Rocky” Rodríguez (32), but it was Atletico Madrid’s Priscila Chinchilla (24) who topped them both—combined—with seven goals. Salas moved to Turkey for the 2025-26 season and has scored 15 goals for Fenerbache—who won the league title with a 22-2-0 (W-D-L) record for 68 points—seven ahead of second place Galatasaray.
Her 15 goals left her tied for third in the Golden Boot race with Cameroonian international Genevieve Ngo (33) of Amed, with both trailing Tunisian international Mariem Houji (31) with 19 goals for Yuksekova and Golden Boot winner and Cameroonian youth and senior international forward Marie Ngah (23) of Galatasaray with 25 goals. Maria Salas had a successful first season in Turkey after two seasons with Atlas and one with Monterrey in Liga MX Femenil, plus one with ChevioVerona in Italy’s Serie B. Rodriguez has played in the NWSL since 2016 and won a NCAA College Cup title in 2015 with Penn State University and the NWSL title with the Portland Thorns in 2022—she has scored 58 goals in 112 senior caps as of June of 2025. Chinchilla played last season with Zenit St. Petersburg in Russia after time in Mexico with Pachuca and in Scotland with Glasgow City.
She has scored 34 goals in 43 caps as of the end of April 2026. The three players were among eight different goal scorers for the Ticas against the Cayman Islands. Goal difference was important in this group as Guatemala’s Chapines scored 13 against Cayman Islands earlier in the group stage (on March 6), but Costa Rica tacked on eight more goals a month later. In the last match of the group on April 18, Costa Rica advanced to the regional quarterfinals with a 3-0 win over Guatemala at home in San Jose.
Costa Rica had a new manager—Brazilian native Lindsay Camila Teles de Carvalho (43), known as Lindsay Camila or just Lindsay—who replaced their long-time Costa Rican native WNT lead Amelia Valverde, who coached India at the AFC Asian Women’s Cup in March in Australia. Lindsay Camila joined the Ticas in November of 2025 and played at home and in Portugal, Spain and France. She has coached at Lyon’s youth sides and in UAE, the U.S. and Brazilian club Ferroviaria and with Brazil’s U-17 WNT. Lindsay led Ferrovoara to third place at the 2021 Copa Libertadores Femenina. In 2024, she coached Bahia in Brazil and won the Campeonato Brasileiro de Futebol Feminino Serie A2, but left in August to take over Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia. She left Al-Ittihad after the 2024-25 season and was free to take over Costa Rica’s WNT. She described the importance of her new job by saying: “My life’s goal is to get to a World Cup quarterfinal with Costa Rica.”
Group D: Pia Sundhage, now the head coach of Haiti (see: The Week in Women's Football: Asian Cup preview; Haiti name new coach - TribalFootball.com), guided her new side to the top of their group with 10 points (3-1-0), followed by Dominican Republic on 8 points (2-2-0), Belize was third on six points (2-0-2), Surinam was fourth on four points (1-1-2), and Anguilla was fifth with 0 points (0-0-4), scoring one goal and allowing 18.
The last game of the group on April 17 was crucial to the top two sides, with Haiti scoring through forward Sherly Jeudy (27), who has been with Lens of France since the 2023-24 season, in the 67th minute and DR tying it up six minutes later through Stella Tapia (21), who grew up in New Jersey and played collegiately at the University of Michigan.
The game was held in Gosier, Guadeloupe as Haiti does not have FIFA approval to stage games at home with political turmoil creating safety concerns, particularly in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Another goal would have sent DR on and they must be encouraged by their results during this tournament. DR will regret their surprising 2-2 deadlock against Suriname on December 2 at home in Moca, as American-born and raised winger Mia Asenjo (23) of DUX Logrono of Spain scored both goals after playing at the University of Central Florida.
Group E: Panama won the group with 12 points (4-0-0) and have a chance to qualify for their second consecutive WWC—after winning through the Intercontinental Playoffs in 2023 in New Zealand along with Haiti and Portugal. Cuba was second on seven points (2-1-1), followed by Aruba in third on six points (2-0-2), with Curacao fourth on three points (1-0-3), scoring four goals while allowing 16 and St. Kitts and Nevis finished fifth on one point (0-1-3) and scored four goals while only allowing nine. Cuba’s 2-2 tie against St. Kitts and Nevis on December 2 in Santiago de Cuba was a surprise as Cuba is rated 96th in the world by FIFA while St. Kitts and Nevis is at 150th as of April 21, 2026 (94th and 140th respectively at the end of 2025’s rankings). Cecil Aldana (23) scored both goals for Cuba.
She is one of the few Cuban WNT players who is playing abroad—besides a trio in Nicaragua—and is currently with Universidad de Chile after playing in Ecuador with Liga de Quito and Dragonas IDV. She started her career for Granma in Cuba in 2022, winning the league’s Golden Boot with 14 goals (scoring 11 for Granma and 3 with Santiago de Cuba). She debuted for Cuba’s U-17 national team at the age of 13.
On the group’s last match day on April 17 Panama eliminated Cuba 3-0 scorer, with midfielder Ericka Arauz (22) of Rayadas de Chiriqui in Panama scoring a brace, with the ultimate winner in the 2nd minute and the third goal in the 57th minute, while Cuban defender Sheyla Wanton (23), who plays with UNAM Managua in Nicaragua, put the ball through her own net in the 22nd minute.
In the other group match that day, Curacao leapfrogged Saint Kitts and Nevis in the final table, coming from behind to defeat the home side 2-1 in St Peters in Basseterre province. Sherema Blake (18) of Newtown United of East Basseterre scored for St. Kitts in the first minute, with forward Shijona Martina (21) of Excelsior in Rotterdam, Netherlands, tying the game for Curacao in the 58th minute and forward Amazia Burnet (18) of Ajax II of the Netherlands scoring the winner in the 91st minute.
Panama was without both midfielder Marta Cox (28) of Fenerbache of Turkey—who has played in Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and in Panama—and forward Lineth Cedeño (25) of Turbine Potsdam of Germany, who played two years with Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia and in Italy, Spain and at home, as they both suffered ACL injuries within the past few months.
Forward Reilly Tanner (26) of Sydney FC led the team with three goals in qualifying and forward Karla Reilly had two. Karla Riley (28) was born in Panama City, Panama and currently plays at Universidad de Chile; she previously played in Mexico with Cruz Azul in Mexico City in 2022.
Finding updated rosters for many CONCACAF teams in this tournament continues to be a challenge, as some national Football Federations haven’t updated their news sites for years. In the case of St. Kitts and Nevis, they have a seemingly vibrant local women’s league—the Elvis Star Browne Women’s League, named after an iconic player and coach in the game who passed away in 2011—which Mapau Cayon Rockets Women won in November of 2025 by edging MFCR Old Road United Lady Jets 1–0 in the final at the National Bank Group Technical Centre. Jasonna Williams (23) scored the decisive goal in the 29th minute as her club won their first-ever Women’s League title and she won the Most Valuable Player title for the game.
Jasonna Williams shows her Final’s MVP trophy as Mapau Cayon Rockets won the Elvis Star Browne Women’s League title in 2025 in St. Kitts and Nevis. Photo courtesy of Cayon Football Club’s Facebook page.
The Mapau Cayon Rockets won a treble of titles in 2025, having earlier won the inaugural St. Kitts Women’s Cup and the Federal Cup. MFCR Old Road United Lady Jets’ Tarvia Phillip (30), who was capped at the senior level by St. Kitts and Nevis in 2022, won both the League MVP and the Golden Boot after an exceptional season in which she scored 41 goals.
Group F: This group had only four teams as El Salvador won the group with nine points (3-0-0), with Trinidad and Tobago second on 4 points (1-1-1) and tied with Honduras (1-1-1) but T&T had a slightly better GD (+3 vs. +1), while Barbados was fourth on zero points, scoring no goals and allowing 22. In the only four-team group, qualification hinged on the April 17 match in Trinidad and Tobago with the Soca Princesses hosting El Salvador. T&T had to win to advance as their 2-2 draw away in Tegucigalpa, Honduras on March 4 left them chasing El Salvador.
El Salvador triumphed 2-0 as forward Brenda Cerén scored in the 37th and 51st minute to secure El Salvador’s berth at the CONCACAF Finals for WWC qualifying for the first time in their history. Goalkeeper Simone Eligon (25), who plays at Chatham Town in England’s FA Women’s National League—Division One South East, kept T&T in the game with some key stops, as El Salvador threatened to extend their lead in the second half.
A very gracious T&T Head Coach Damian Briggs talked to the media after the game and said: “First of all, I just want to thank the public, the general public, that came up and gave support to us. We really appreciate it.” Briggs did feel that if Trinidad and Tobago had scored on some early chances, the final score might have been divergent: “If we took the first two or three chances that were afforded to us early in the game, it may have been a different game. Then they came into it a little bit, and we knew there were going to be periods when we had to suffer without the ball. I thought we tried really hard to keep them at bay.”
Coach Briggs said that he built his team’s tactical approach around managing El Salvador’s shape and limiting the threat of balls played in behind: “We spoke about the distances, about getting early pressure in, and if we couldn’t affect the ball itself, we wanted to affect the space. We wanted to be able to drop and deal with the balls over the top, and I thought we dealt with that fairly well for periods.” He also had different defensive tactics depending on how El Salvador started play from the back: “We discussed going into a mid-block at times, especially when they were building with three centre halves and wing backs. We wanted to allow certain passes and then engage when it came into midfield, rather than going full press and leaving ourselves more open.”
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