August 16 – The inaugural Concacaf W Champions Cup began last night with the Vancouver Whitecaps, following their victory in the national championship last weekend, defeating Alianza FC of El Salvador 1-0 in the preliminary round at the Estadio Cuscaltan in San Salvador, El Salvador.

The winning goal was scored by 17-year-old Emily Wong from the penalty spot. She will go down in Concacaf history as the scorer of the very first goal in the W Champions Cup.

The Whitecaps now move into Group B, where they will face San Diego Wave FC and Portland Thorns FC from the USA, Club America Femenil from Mexico and Santa Fe FC from Panama.

They will play their first group match next Thursday, August 21, against Club América Femenil in Mexico City.

The W Champions Cup is the first official competition for women’s clubs in Concacaf. The group stage consists of two groups of five clubs each, with each club playing every club in its group once (twice at home and twice away). The group winners and runners-up advance to the final, which will be played in a knockout system at a central venue to be announced.

“Since 2019, when we launched our first women’s football strategy, we have worked non-stop to create more opportunities that benefit all our member associations and their leagues, clubs and players at all levels of the sport. Of course, there is still much work to be done, but we have made significant progress in developing and delivering exciting national team competitions and impactful development programs that have created important opportunities across the region,” said Concacaf President Victor Montagliani.

This strategy led to the highly successful launch of the first W Gold Cup in February/March, which hosted the top five South American teams in Concacaf, with the final being contested between the USA and Brazil, who would go on to compete in the Olympic final in Paris five months later.

The Concacaf W Champions Cup is the confederation’s qualification path for the 2026 FIFA Women’s Club World Cup.
“The Concacaf W Champions Cup is about taking the next step on that journey and focusing on improving women’s club soccer in our confederation… With the support of key stakeholders, including long-time Concacaf broadcast partners CBS Sports and ESPN, we are thrilled to launch the W Champions Cup,” added Montagliani.

W Champions Cup Groups:
Group A: NJ/NY Gotham FC (USA), Tigres Femenil (MEX), CF Monterrey Femenil (MEX), LD Alajuelense (CRC) and Frazsiers Whip Football Limited (JAM).
Group B: San Diego Wave FC (USA), Portland Thorns FC (USA), Club America Femenil (MEX), Santa Fe FC (PAN) and preliminary round winners (TBC).
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