On 10 December 2020, the CONCACAF Council approved the structure and calendar of the competition. The qualification competition, known as the "Road to Concacaf W Gold Cup", will begin with the group stage, featuring 33 women's national teams of CONCACAF split into three leagues (A, B and C). Each league will feature three groups, containing three teams each in League A, and four teams each in Leagues B and C. The teams in each group will play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The top three teams in League A will qualify directly for the W Gold Cup. The group runners-up of League A and the League B group winners will participate in a play-in in April 2024 to compete for the final three spots at the W Gold Cup. The two CONCACAF women's national teams that qualify for the Summer Olympics in 2024 will not participate in the group stage, and will receive a bye directly to the W Gold Cup.[2]
The final tournament will be held in June 2024, the month prior to the start of the 2024 Olympic women's football tournament. The W Gold Cup will feature twelve teams, including the two teams that qualified for the Summer Olympics, the six teams that qualified from the group stage and play-in, and four guest national teams from other confederations. The twelve teams will be split into three groups of four, and will compete in a single round-robin. Eight teams, the top two teams of each group and the two-best third-placed teams, will advance to the knockout stage. The knockout stage will consist of quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final to determine the champion.[1]
