The 2018 Concacaf U-20 Men’s Championship is set to kick off this November with the draw itself being announced to occur this September.
Concacaf announced on Tuesday that the draw including the 35 participating teams will take place on Sept. 13 at 10 a.m.
A new format was chosen for the 2018 edition of the tournament which will see all participating teams playing in higher-quality matches. The top six ranked nations will be seeded and placed in one of six groups which will be rounded out by teams in five additional pots.
Here are the seeded teams and pots for the draw:
Seeded Teams (group and position): United States (A1), Mexico (B1), Honduras (C1), Panama (D1) Costa Rica (E1) and El Salvador (F1)
Pot 1: Cuba, Guatemala, Trinidad & Tobago, Haiti, Canada and Jamaica
Pot 2: Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Curacao, Aruba and Suriname
Pot 3: Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia and Guyana
Pot 4: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Cayman Islands, Barbados, Belize and Dominica
Pot 5: US Virgin Islands, Martinique, Sint Maarten, Saint Martin and Monserrat
The 2018 Concacaf U-20 Championship will take place from Nov. 1-21 in Bradenton, FL. The top four teams from the tournament will automatically qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland.
this seeding approach is sensible. there is no benefit to anyone in having a (no offense intended) 7-0 thrashing of tiny island nation team by regional powerhouse nation (mexico, usa and sometimes costa rica)
“why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” as the kids say to the bully in the school yard.