This week, we look at the very interesting 2023 ranking of the 50 best women's footballers in 2023 by ESPN. We have some interesting findings by looking at the countries these top 50 players come from and what leagues they are currently playing in. We juxtapose the top 11 players ranking from the IFFHS rankings for 2023 as voted by the media. We also wrap up the final CONCACAF W Gold Cup Qualifiers and set the stage for the Finals next month, which will be held in California and Texas and include four guest nations from CONMEBOL—TribalFootball.com plans to cover this tournament live.

ESPN 2023 50 Best Women's Footballers Globally

ESPN explained in their release of their list of the 50 Best Women's Footballers globally in 2023: "This list was developed last fall utilizing input from 32 people who focused on women's football globally, including current and former coaches for top-tier club teams or national teams, general managers, administrators, players and journalists, who were asked to anonymously pick their top 50 players of 2023. Using a ranked ballot, each No. 1 vote was worth 50 points, and each No. 50 vote was worth one point.

At the end, we tallied up the points to get our list. It does exclude players who were strong early in 2023 but then were injured, such as U.S. international and Chicago Red Stars Mallory Swanson. Alexia Putellas [of Spain] was number 1 in 2022 but came back late in the 2022-23 season and did play in the WWC Finals. Likewise, American Samantha Mewis—No. 1 on our 2021 list--didn't play a single minute in 2023. Our No. 3 on last year's list, Vivianne Miedema of the Netherlands, was sidelined for all of 2023 with an ACL tear. Last year's highest-ranked American, Catarina Macario now of Chelsea, who came in at No. 6—also didn't play at all in 2023 because of an ACL injury."

The list of voters this year included: "San Diego Wave president and ex-USWNT coach Jill Ellis, ex-Netherlands and ex-Washington Spirit coach Mark Parsons, Gotham FC general manager Yael Averbuch, Feyenoord head coach Jessica Torny, Angel City FC head coach Becki Tweed, Nigeria head coach Randy Waldrum, ex-New Zealand and ex-USWNT head coach Tom Sermanni, Liga MX Femenil director Mariana Gutierrez Bernardez, ex-Barcelona and ex-Ukraine head coach Lluis Cortes, analyst and ex-USWNT player Heather O'Reilly, ex-FIFA executive committee member Moya Dodd, UK journalist Rich Laverty, UK journalist Tom Garry, Portuguese journalist Ines Braga Sampaio, Swedish journalist Amanda Zaza, Australian journalist Samantha Lewis, U.S. journalist and ESPN contributor Jeff Kassouf, ESPN U.S. editor Caitlin Murray, ESPN UK writer Sophie Lawson, ESPN U.S. editor James Tyler, ESPN Africa contributor Leonard Solms, ESPN Africa editor Lindsay du Plessis, ESPN UK writer Tom Hamilton, ESPN France contributor Julien Laurens, ESPN Netherlands editor Audrey de Ridder, ESPN Netherlands presenter Sanne van Dongen, ESPN Netherlands presenter Fresia Cousiño Arias, ESPN Netherlands commentator Mark van Rijswijk, ESPN Spain writer Sam Marsden, ESPN U.S. and Mexico writer Cesar Hernandez, ESPN Australia contributor Joey Lynch and ESPN Australia editor Michael Wise."

This author analyzed the number of players' nationalities and the leagues that they currently played in and found some interesting findings. The 50 players came from 17 different nations and by confederations, UEFA holding a huge advantage (34), followed by CONCACAF (6), the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) (6), CONMEBOL (3), CAF (Confederation of African Football (1) and none from Oceania. The nations of the 50 top selections included:

• England (10)
• Spain (9)
• Australia (4)
• Sweden (4)
• U.S. (4)
• France (3)
• Brazil (2)
• Germany (2)
• Japan (2)
• Netherlands (2)
• Norway (2)
• Haiti (1)
• Colombia (1)
• Jamaica (1)
• Nigeria (1)
• Poland (1)
• Republic of Ireland (1)

England and Spain, the 2023 WWC Finalists, contributed 19 players to the list, or almost four-in-ten players (38%). In terms of leagues, England's WSL has 18 of the current top 50 players currently active in their league, followed by Spain's Liga F with 15. France's top tier Division 1 Feminine is next with 6, followed by the U.S.'s NWSL and Frauen Bundesliga each with 5 and one from Liga MX Femenil in Mexico. The NWSL likes to tout that it is the most competitive league in the world—which from top to bottom is true—but it is decidedly lacking in the number of top class footballers currently in the league.

We present the list of all 50 players, with detail and pictures for the top 10, with half (5) coming from champions Spain:

50. Alex Greenwood

Country: England
Club: Manchester City
Age: 30
Position: Defender
2022 Rank: Not ranked

49. Irene Paredes

Country: Spain
Club: Barcelona
Age: 32
Position: Defender
2022 Rank: 18

48. Ellie Carpenter

Country: Australia
Club: Lyon
Age: 23
Position: Defender
2022 Rank: 27

47. Rose Lavelle

Country: USA
Club: OL Reign
Age: 28
Position: Midfielder
2022 Rank: 19

46. Stina Blackstenius

Country: Sweden
Club: Arsenal
Age: 27
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: 23

45. Magdalena Eriksson

Country: Sweden
Club: Bayern Munich
Age: 30
Position: Defender
2022 Rank: 13

44. Yui Hasegawa

Country: Japan
Club: Manchester City
Age: 26
Position: Midfielder
2022 Rank: Not ranked

43. Esmee Brugts

Country: Netherlands
Club: Barcelona
Age: 20
Position: Forward/Defender
2022 Rank: Not ranked

42. Ewa Pajor

Country: Poland
Club: Wolfsburg
Age: 26
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: Not ranked

41. Steph Catley

Country: Australia
Club: Arsenal
Age: 29
Position: Defender
2022 Rank: Not ranked

40. Alessia Russo

Country: England
Club: Arsenal
Age: 24
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: Not ranked

39. Jill Roord

Country: Netherlands
Club: Manchester City
Age: 26
Position: Midfielder
2022 Rank: 50

38. Grace Geyoro

Country: France
Club: Paris Saint-Germain
Age: 26
Position: Midfielder
2022 Rank: Not ranked

37. Melchie Dumornay

Country: Haiti
Club: Lyon
Age: 20
Position: Midfielder
2022 Rank: Not ranked

36. Guro Reiten

Country: Norway
Club: Chelsea
Age: 29
Position: Midfielder
2022 Rank: Not ranked

35. Wendie Renard

Country: France
Club: Lyon
Age: 33
Position: Defender
2022 Rank: 11

34. Amanda Ilestedt

Country: Sweden
Club: Arsenal
Age: 30
Position: Defender
2022 Rank: Not ranked

33. Georgia Stanway

Country: England
Club: Bayern Munich
Age: 24
Position: Midfielder
2022 Rank: Not ranked

32. Khadija Shaw

Country: Jamaica
Club: Manchester City
Age: 26
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: Not ranked

31. Kerolin

Country: Brazil
Club: North Carolina Courage
Age: 23
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: Not ranked

30. Mariona Caldentey

Country: Spain
Club: Barcelona
Age: 26
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: Not ranked

29. Lindsey Horan

Country: USA
Club: Lyon
Age: 29
Position: Midfielder
2022 Rank: 22

28. Asisat Oshoala

Country: Nigeria
Club: Barcelona
Age: 29
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: 43

27. Hinata Miyazawa

Country: Japan
Club: Manchester United
Age: 23
Position: Midfielder
2022 Rank: Not ranked

26. Debinha

Country: Brazil
Club: Kansas City Current
Age: 32
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: 21

25. Ona Batlle

Country: Spain
Club: Barcelona
Age: 24
Position: Defender
2022 Rank: Not ranked

24. Katie McCabe

Country: Ireland
Club: Arsenal
Age: 28
Position: Defender/midfielder/forward
2022 Rank: Not ranked

23. Lucy Bronze

Country: England
Club: Barcelona
Age: 32
Position: Defender
2022 Rank: 31

22. Lauren Hemp

Country: England
Club: Manchester City
Age: 23
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: 16

21. Naomi Girma

Country: USA
Club: San Diego Wave
Age: 23
Position: Defender
2022 Rank: Not ranked

20. Rachel Daly

Country: England
Club: Aston Villa
Age: 31
Position: Defender/forward
2022 Rank: Not ranked

19. Caitlin Foord

Country: Australia
Club: Arsenal
Age: 28
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: 48

18. Millie Bright

Country: England
Club: Chelsea
Age: 30
Position: Defender
2022 Rank: 38

17. Keira Walsh

Country: England
Club: Barcelona
Age: 26
Position: Midfielder
2022 Rank: Not ranked

16. Patri Guijarro

Country: Spain
Club: Barcelona
Age: 25
Position: Midfielder
2022 Rank: 24

15. Caroline Graham Hansen

Country: Norway
Club: Barcelona
Age: 28
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: 4

14. Lena Oberdorf

Country: Germany
Club: Wolfsburg
Age: 21
Position: Midfielder
2022 Rank: Not ranked

13. Sophia Smith

Country: USA
Club: Portland Thorns
Age: 23
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: Not ranked

12. Kadidiatou Diani

Country: France
Club: Lyon
Age: 28
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: 35

11. Lauren James

Country: England
Club: Chelsea
Age: 22
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: Not ranked

10. Olga Carmona

Country: Spain
Club: Real Madrid
Age: 23
Position: Defender
2022 Rank: Not ranked

Olga Carmona has caught the eye with her two-way play for Real Madrid over the last few years before the WWC Finals, and particularly with her play for Spain at the EUROS in 2022 in England. She was removed at halftime of Spain's last group game in New Zealand by the always obtuse manager Jorge Vilda (now coaching Morocco's WNT)—a 4-0 loss to Japan—and did not play at all in her country's 5-1 win over Switzerland in the Round of 16. She was back for the quarterfinals and was team captain for the last two matches of the finals; she scored a brilliant winner against Sweden in the semifinal, when she ghosted up from defense to receive a corner kick—a play that left her acres of space for a long shot and goal and a strategy rarely seen.

Then in the Final in Sydney, she scored the only goal of the game in the first half after England's Lucy Bronze was stripped of the ball in midfield and Carmona jetted off and finished the rapid transition. She was named the Player of the Match for the final. In the fall, Carmona—a left back—has scored consistently for Real Madrid and Spain in the Nations League, as they made the semifinals relatively easily, scoring three times with six assists in 10 starts for Real Madrid in Liga F and a brace against Chelsea in a 2-2 tie from four WCL matches. She finished tenth in ESPN's poll this season after not being ranked at all last year—she should be a top 10 fixture for years to come.

9. Jenni Hermoso

Country: Spain
Club: Pachuca
Age: 33
Position: Forward/midfielder
2022 Rank: 8

Hermoso's move to Pachuca in Mexico from Barcelona for the 2022-23 Apertura and Clausura seasons was questioned by many as a bit of a step into retirement and an easier league, but 19 goals in 24 regular season matches that season put an end to that thinking. She was crucial in midfield, scoring three times, as Spain won the World title for the first time. She then heroically faced down Luis Rubiales and the Spanish Federation, who wanted her to recant her story that Rubiales' kiss on her lips after the finals was unwanted and sexist.

She has had to take time out from her play in Mexico to fly to Spain to testify in court proceedings against Rubiales, but she is leading a sea change against sexist attitudes in her home country. She continues to play well for Pachuca, scoring three times in seven regular season matches as her team made the quarterfinals; she just moved earlier this month to join the Apertura 2023 Champions UANL Tigres in Monterrey.

8. Mapi León

Country: Spain
Club: Barcelona
Age: 28
Position: Defender
2022 Rank: 17

She helped lead Barcelona to the UEFA Women's Champions League title in 2022-23 but was one of the dozen players who refused to play for Spain's national team because of the culture—which everyone clearly saw with Rubiales behavior at the WWC Final match and Vilda's less than warm attitude towards anyone throughout the tournament. She tore a meniscus in early December and will miss some significant game time this season.

7. Fridolina Rolfö

Country: Sweden
Club: Barcelona
Age: 29
Position: Forward/defender
2022 Rank: 32

Rolfo won the 2022-23 UEFA WCL title with Barcelona and helped her national team—always underappreciated and discounted by so many every World Cup—to the bronze medal in Australia/New Zealand. She scored the winning goal for Barca as they fought back from a 2-0 deficit at halftime to Wolfsburg of Germany in the last WCL title match. She scored three times for Sweden at the 2023 WWC. She also is missing some games this season due to an injury.

6. Alexandra Popp

Country: Germany
Club: Wolfsburg
Age: 32
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: Not ranked

Germany's elimination at the group stage at the Women's World Cup last summer was a shocker but Popp played well, scoring four of Germany's eight goals, including two against Morocco in their opening group match 6-0 win, though stunningly and deservedly so Morocco advanced on six points from their group behind Colombia and Germany went home after three matches with only four points. Popp was key to Germany making the final the year before at the European Championships in England, with six goals in five matches and both goals in their 2-1 semifinal win over France, though she couldn't play in the Final against England due to an injury.

5. Salma Paralluelo

Country: Spain
Club: Barcelona
Age: 19
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: Not ranked

Salma Paralluelo is another young Spaniard who burst onto the scene in 2023; she played her second season with Barcelona and the Spanish national team, scoring 14 goals last year and winning the UEFA WCL. She was one of the revelations last summer at the 2023 Women's World Cup. She was a top runner in athletics and committed to football only a few years ago. She scored an overtime winner against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals in New Zealand and then Spain's first goal against Sweden in the next round at the World Cup Finals. She scored four goals in one half earlier this season against Seville in an 8-0 win at home on November 5 and has seven Liga F goals and five in the UEFA WCL group stage. She is a reminder that Spain—the reigning world champions at the U-17, U-20 and full national team level—has an amazing pipeline of young talent and teams like England, Sweden and the U.S., despite bringing in much-revered Chelsea head coach Emma Hayes next spring, should be forewarned that, despite substantial internal turmoil over the past few years, Spain could dominate the senior game for years to come.

4. Linda Caicedo

Country: Colombia
Club: Real Madrid
Age: 18
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: Not ranked

She played for Colombia in the senior World Cup Finals and the U-20 and U-17 levels Finals last year. She helped Colombia—runners-up at the Copa America Feminina which they hosted—to the quarterfinals last summer and was one of the stars of the tournament. For Real Madrid this season she has one goal in 10 matches but is expected to break out as she settles into the team.

3. Mary Earps

Country: England
Club: Manchester United
Age: 30
Position: Goalkeeper
2022 Rank: Not ranked

Mary Earps was definitely one of the top players of the 2023 Women's World Cup and arguably the best goalkeeper on show as England finished runners-up, their best finish after finishing third in 2015 in Canada. In their 1-0 final loss, she saved a Jenni Hermoso penalty late in the game to keep her side down by only a single goal. She challenged Nike for not offering her goalkeeper's jersey for sale during the tournament, which Nike corrected after the tournament ended.

2. Sam Kerr

Country: Australia
Club: Chelsea
Age: 30
Position: Forward
2022 Rank: 2

Sam Kerr has finished number 2 in the ESPN FC's women's ranking for the third consecutive year. Last season she scored 29 times in 38 games in all competitions for Chelsea, who won the league and the FA Cup. She missed WWC games early in the Finals due to a calf injury she received in training but was clearly the emotional bellwether for the team and the fans, who followed the Matildas in record numbers last year. Unfortunately, she recently tore an ACL during Chelseas's winter training camp in Morocco and will miss the rest of the 2023-24 WSL season, which could affect her 2024 ranking. We hope she has a rapid and full recovery.

1. Aitana Bonmatí

Country: Spain
Club: Barcelona
Age: 25
Position: Midfielder
2022 Rank: 9

Bonmati had a fantastic season for club and country and at times during the Women's World Cup Finals, thank to her dribbling, tactical acumen and ability to create space for shots, which at time was otherworldly. She was voted the Player of the Tournament with the Golden Ball awards in the Champions League and at the World Cup. She was UEFA's Women's Player of the Year, and she is the current holder of the Women's Ballon d'Or from France Football. So far this season for Barcelona in the league, she has 6 goals and 5 assists in 13 matches. She is the only player—men or women—to have won the Champions League, World Cup and Ballon d'Or in the same calendar year

A few thoughts on a few rankings: I personally would have moved Ona Battelle of Barcelona (moving from Manchester United in the off-season) and Spain (#25), who was stellar in defense for Spain at the World Cup and particularly in the Final, up into the top 12-15. I would do the same with Katie McCabe (#24) of Arsenal and the Republic of Ireland, who was outstanding for both teams last year and was so important in the Irish's surprising qualification for the 2023 WWC Finals and solid performance in Australia, as well as standing up to now-departed head coach Vera Pauw on tactics and team chemistry issues. Caroline Graham Hansen of Barcelona and Norway fell from #4 the year before to #15. She has been a consistent top 5 player in multiple polls over the past few years. She was stellar for Barcelona in the 2022-23 WCL Final win over Lyon, but her slide this year is more a reflection of Norway's poor performance at the 2023 WWC Finals, a carry-on from a disappointing 2022 EURO Finals when they were slaughtered by England (8-0) and did not advance from the group stage.

IFFHS Top 11 Players in 2023

The International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) named its top 11 players in 2023, including four players from Spain's World Championship team: WWC Golden Ball winner Aitana Bonmatí, WWC Silver Ball winner Jenni Hermoso, FIFA Young Player Award recipient Salma Paralluelo, and final goal scorer Olga Carmona. No other country has more than one player in the final 11.

IFFHS Women's World Team 2023:

Mary Earps (England); Amanda Ilestedt (Sweden), Wendie Rénard (France), Olga Carmona (Spain); Lena Oberdorf (Germany), Aitana Bonmatí (Spain), Hinata Miyazawa (Japan), Linda Caicedo (Colombia); Jenni Hermoso (Spain), Sam Kerr (Australia), Salma Paralluelo (Spain).

In comparing the IFFHS Top 11 to the top 11 for ESPN FC, England's Lauren James, Spain's Mapi Leon, Sweden's Fridolina Rolfö and Germany's Alexandra Popp, were not in the IFFHS final 11.

2024 CONCACAF Gold Cup Finals Preview and Wrap-up of Final Group Qualifiers across the Three Leagues.

CONCACAF W Gold Cup Qualifiers

CONCACAF's W Gold Cup Qualifiers wrapped up in early December in Leagues A. B and C

League A (nine top-ranked teams divided into three groups of three)

Group A: Mexico 12 points; Puerto Rico 4; Trinidad and Tobago 1.

Mexico won two games in early December on the road in the Caribbean, defeating Puerto Rico 3-0 on December 1 and then Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 on December 5, to win Group A. Kiana Palacios (27), who was born in the States and now plays for Club America in Mexico City, scored a brace against Puerto Rico and Cristina Ferral (30) of UANL Tigres scored the only goal against T&T.

Group B: Panama 7 points; Guatemala 5; Jamaica 3

In the final group matches, Panama and Guatemala both tied Jamaica (1-1) to leave Panama as the Group winners by two points over Guatemala. Jamaica, which made the Round of 16 in the WWC Finals less than 6 months ago, continues with funding issues as Bob Marley's daughter, Cedella Marley, announced that her father and mother's Foundations will discontinue their financial support of Jamaica's Reggae Girlz. Cedella Marley has been a long-time supporter of the team but the Foundations reassessed their partnership with the Jamaica Football Federation after recent conflict with the players over salaries and their WWC bonuses (see more in: The Week in Women's Football: Reviewing Nations League and Gold Cup qualifiers; Examining Jamaica pay row - Tribal Football).

Cedella Marley, who was a Global Ambassador for the WNT, said that the Bob and Rita Marley Foundations, alongside a host of partners, have invested some US $2.7 million into the growth and development of the women's football team over the last decade. The JFF President, Michael Rickett, felt that her departure and the end of the funding was "unfortunate… even more so as we are of the view that we had made significant progress in the discussions, and are just awaiting the World Cup players to come back to us and advise of their availability. We want to assure her that the gains that have been made will be concretized as we move into the future." Many in the game are holding their breath that Rickett is correct, but with teams improving throughout CONCACAF (see below), Jamaica could quickly become an also-ran in the federation, much as Trinidad and Tobago's WNT have become, since narrowly missing out on a 2015 WWC Finals spot, less than a decade ago.

Group C: Costa Rica 9; Haiti 9 points; Saint Kitts and Nevis 0.

Costa Rica had two remaining games to finish Group C and won them both: 2-1 over Haiti at home on November 30 with a 96th minute goal by Alexa Herrera (19) of Alajuelense in Costa Rica, and then 19-0 over St. Kitts and Nevis in Basseterre with Maria Salas (21) scoring 7 goals. Salas spent a brief stint in Italy's Serie B with Chievo Verona in 2022 and has played in Mexico for the last two seasons, first for Monterrey before joining Atlas of Guadalajara for the 2023-24 Liga MX Femenil season. The Ticas bested Haiti's goal differential by 6 goals (+30 to +24). Spare a thought for St. Kitts and Nevis, who gave up 54 goals in four matches and had no goals.

League B

Group A: Guyana 15 points; Surinam 12; Antigua and Barbuda 4; Dominica 4.
In Group A, Guyana beat Surinam 1-0 in both of their last matches and won the group by three points over their Dutch neighbors

Group B: El Salvador 18 points; Martinique 7; Nicaragua 5, Honduras 4.

In Group B, El Salvador sent a message to the rest of CONCACAF that they are a building power with six consecutive wins against a group that could have proved tricky for them. Martinique defeated Honduras away 4-1 in their last game on December 3 with Mylaine Tarrieu (29) scoring a hat-trick; she is now with Bordeaux in France and scored three goals in 23 games for Olympique Lyon from 2015-18. She was capped by France at the U-20 level.

Group C: Dominican Republic 15; Bermuda 13 points; Barbados 4; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 3.

In Group C, DR had a far superior goal differential than did Bermuda (+21 to +9). This group came down to the final match day on December 5, with Dominican Republic defeating the visitors 2-0 at home, after Bermuda won the opening group match by the same score at home on September 22. In Santo Domingo in the final game, American-born midfielder Alyssa Oviedo (23) who played at the University of Vermont and started playing with Dominican Republic's U-20 side in 2017, opened the scoring in the 17th minute. Mia Asenjo (20), also American-born who plays at the University of Central Florida, scored the clinching goal three minutes from time. Bermuda's tie away in Bridgetown against Barbados (1-1) on October 27 was the ultimate difference between the two leaders, but Bermuda's 14 goals scored to DR's 24 would have condemned them to second even with a win in Bridgetown.

League C

Group A: Belize 18 points; Aruba 9; Bonaire 7; Turks and Caicos Islands 1.

In Group A, Belize won all six matches, finishing with a goal difference of +19, scoring 20 and allowing only one goal, to double the points total of second place Aruba. In their final match, a 1-0 win away in Aruba, American-born defender Mikhaila Bowden (30) scored the winner five minutes from time—she played at Boise State University in Idaho and played state league ball in Australia with Southern United.

Group B: Cuba 12 points; Saint Lucia 6 points; Guadeloupe 0; St. Maarten 0.

In Group B, Cuba was perfect in four games, scoring 11 goals with only 2 allowed.

Group C: Grenada 12 points; US Virgin Islands 4; Bahamas 1.

In Group C, Grenada also won all four group matches.

Group D; Curacao 12; Anguilla 4 points; Cayman Islands 1

In Group D, Curacao also was undefeated and untied in group play, finishing with 18 goals and 4 allowed. In their final 6-1 win at home over Cayman Islands on December 4, with Kadisha Martina (23) scoring a brace. Martina scored four goals in Curacao's 5-1 win over Anguilla in The Valley on November 30. Martina plays at home at Inter Willemstad and has 8 goals in 11 national team matches.

W Gold Cup Finals Format and Schedule

In order to determine the final slots in the 12 team 2024 W Gold Cup Finals, which will include four guest teams from CONMEBOL, the three League A group runners-up and the winners of League B groups will play a final playoff match in February:

• Haiti (League A) vs. Puerto Rico (League A)
• El Salvador (League B) vs. Guatemala (League A)
• Guyana (League B) vs Dominican Republic (League B)

The one leg ties will be held as a triple header on February 17 in Carson, California (south of L.A.) before the start of the W Gold Cup Finals.

The draw for the Finals gave fans a very interesting Group A with the U.S. Mexico and Argentina drawn together, with the U.S. and Argentina making the 2023 WWC Finals, and Mexico rebuilding after losing in the CONCACAF Finals in the group stage even though the hosted the event in mid-2022.

In Group B, Colombia and Brazil could overwhelm Panama and Haiti/Puerto Rico.

In Group C, Canada, also having battles with their cash-strapped Federation over funding and resources similar to Jamaica, should advance against Costa Rica, Paraguay and El Salvador/Guatemala. Their long-time veterans, Christine Sinclair and Sophie Schmidt, retired from the national team last year. Costa Rica fell to Paraguay (3-1) at last summer's Pan-American Games in Chile.

The four guest nations from CONMEBOL finished as the top four from the 2022 Copa America Feminina: Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Paraguay.

Group A will be based in Carson at Dignity Health Sports Park (the home of MLS's Los Angeles Galaxy and which staged the last two games of the 2023 WWC Finals). Group B will be based at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. And Group C will be based at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston.

After the group stage, the top two from each group will advance to the quarterfinals along with the best two third-placed teams. These remaining eight teams will then be seeded one to eight based on how they performed in the group stage. The quarterfinals will be staged at BMO Stadium (home of MLS's L.A. FC and Angel City FC of the NWSL) in Los Angeles.

2024 W Gold Cup Schedule

Saturday, February 17, 2024 - Dignity Health Sports Park Track and Field Stadium, Carson, CA
M1: Haiti vs Puerto Rico
M2: El Salvador vs Guatemala
M3: Guyana vs Dominican Republic

Tuesday, February 20, 2024 - Dignity Health Sports Park, Carson, CA
M4: Mexico vs Argentina
M5: United States vs Prelims Winner 3

Wednesday, February 21, 2024 - Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, CA
M6: Panama vs Colombia
M7: Brazil vs Prelims Winner 1

Thursday, February 22, 2024 - Shell Energy Stadium, Houston, TX
M8: Costa Rica vs Paraguay
M9: Canada vs Prelims Winner 2

Friday, February 23, 2024 - Dignity Health Sports Park, Carson, CA
M10: Prelims Winner 3 vs Mexico
M11: Argentina vs United States

Saturday, February 24, 2024 - Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, CA
M12: Prelims Winner 1 vs Panama
M13: Colombia vs Brazil

Sunday, February 25, 2024 - Shell Energy Stadium, Houston, TX
M14: Prelims Winner 2 vs Costa Rica
M15: Paraguay vs Canada

Monday, February 26, 2024 - Dignity Health Sports Park, Carson, CA
M16: Argentina vs Prelims Winner 3
M17: United States vs Mexico

Tuesday, February 27, 2024 - Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, CA
M18: Colombia vs Prelims Winner 1
M19: Brazil vs Panama

Wednesday, February 28, 2024 - Shell Energy Stadium, Houston, TX
M20: Paraguay vs Prelims Winner 2
M21: Canada vs Costa Rica

Saturday, March 2, 2024 - BMO Stadium, Los Angeles, CA (Quarterfinals)
M22: 1st vs 8th
M23: 2nd vs 7th

Sunday, March 3, 2024 - BMO Stadium, Los Angeles, CA (Quarterfinals)
M24: 3rd vs 6th
M25: 4th vs 5th

Wednesday, March 6, 2024 - Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, CA (Semifinals)
M26: WM22 vs WM25
M27: WM23 vs WM24 Sunday, March 10, 2024 - Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, CA (Final)
M28: WM26 vs WM27