Continental Battles in CONCACAF Women’s Soccer Could Take the Game to Another Level

With a pair of intra-continental women’s tournaments coming to CONCACAF, we take a look at how they can continue to grow the game and add excitement to a quickly growing region. 

It’s been a summer full of international football, with high octane action going down in both the EURO and Copa America tournaments. We’re not through it yet either, with Olympic footy set to start at the end of the month and go through the beginning of August.

With all the hype around these major tournaments, it’s been easy to forget about the club game. Although the top European domestic flights have been off for the summer, North American-based leagues have been toiling throughout the dog days, even in the midst of the Copa America being hosted in the United States.

And while the NWSL is taking a break from its regular league play for the Olympics — which unlike on the age-restricted men’s side, is considered a major tournament for the women — the league has introduced a novel competition for its players that aren’t making the trip to Paris against new competition: Liga MX Femenil.

Of course, the soccer rivalry between Mexico and the U.S. goes back decades, and as Liga MX Femenil has grown in stature, professionalism, and quality, the animosity between both nations has crept into the women’s game as well.

On the international stage, La Tri handedly defeated the U.S. women’s national team 2-0 in the 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup group stage, one of the biggest wins in the team’s history and only the second time Mexico’s women’s team has defeated the Americans.

On the club side, however, competition between NWSL and Liga MX sides has been few and far between, with a handful of friendly matches being the only time the two leagues have squared off. That’s about to change, with both the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup and the CONCACAF W Champions Cup competitions both entering the fray this summer.

It’s about time the region gets some continental competitions, and both tournaments should help continue the upwards trajectory of women’s soccer in North/Central America and the Caribbean.

The Summer Cup will take place in concurrence with the Olympics, with the group stage starting on July 19, and a four-team semifinal round on August 6. The two winners of the semis will square off in the final on October 25 in San Antonio.

The tournament will feature five groups featuring all 14 NWSL clubs and six from Liga MX — Tigres, America, Pachuca, Monterrey, Tijuana, and Chivas Guadalajara. Only four of the five top-of-group finishers will advance to the semifinals, which seems like a clumsy structure, but is undoubtedly a product of time restrictions to get the tournament final set in a two-and-a-half week span.

The Summer Cup seems like a warm-up for the Champions Cup, as the former competition will be absent of players representing their national teams in the Olympics, and in several cases like with Angel City FC and San Diego Wave, home matches will be played in alternate locations outside of their normal home stadiums.

The W Champions Cup, which represents the first continental women’s competition in the CONCACAF region, will have its preliminary round start on August 15 and run through May 2025 along with the other continental tournaments around the globe.

 

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The U.S. and Mexico get three berths each in the tournament, with the reigning NWSL Cup champions (Gotham FC) and top two finishers in the 2023 table (San Diego Wave and Portland Thorns) representing the American contingent and the winners of the Liga MX Femenil Apertura (Tigres) and Clausura (Monterrey) along with the best runner-up (Club America) representing Mexico.

In addition, the champions of Jamaica (Frazsiers Whip), Costa Rica (Alajuelense), and Panama (Santa Fe FC) clinched berths, and teams from El Salvador (Alianza) and Canada (Vancouver Whitecaps Elite Academy) will face off in a preliminary round to determine the final spot in the group stage.

The group stage will conclude in October 2024, with a long layover until the semifinals in May 2025. Regardless, it will be a long-awaited continental tournament for a region that has been rapidly growing its women’s soccer infrastructure.

Moreover, both competitions are important because they can fan the flame underneath the bubbling rivalry between the NWSL and Liga MX Femenil. On the men’s side, there is certainly animosity felt between MLS and Liga MX, but it feels like the Leagues Cup and CONCACAF Champions Cup have missed opportunities to ramp up the intensity of the rivalry.

A USMNT vs. Mexico game, even in a friendly, feels much more intense than a CCC match between an MLS and Liga MX side. As an example, the 2024 Champions Cup quarterfinal matchup between New England Revolution and Club America failed to draw over 20,000 fans in both legs, with the match hosted by the Revs attracting a paltry crowd of just under 12,000.

Starting pretty much from scratch, Liga MX and the NWSL have a chance to create something beautiful, and they have a few advantages over their male counterparts. First off, the NWSL is a top league in the world, which neither MLS or Liga MX are. In addition, the rise of Liga MX Femenil will give the Mexican sides an additional chip on their shoulders after being counted out for so many years.

Take Mia Fishel for example, who famously skirted the NWSL draft in favor of signing with perennial Mexican powerhouse Tigres. She absolutely tore up Liga MX, yet despite her gaudy goal scoring numbers, she was widely ignored by the USWNT. But while U.S. Soccer overlooked her time in Mexico, Chelsea didn’t.

The seven-time WSL champions signed Fishel to a three-year deal ahead of the 2023-24 season, and though a devastating ACL injury cut her season short, she showed she belonged, scoring a pair of goals and displaying her quality up until her knee gave out.

All of a sudden, the USWNT came calling, and Fishel earned her first senior team cap in September 2023. She figured to be part of the team’s plans moving forward as well, but her injury left her off the USWNT’s Olympic roster.

Now touting top players like World Cup Champion and Spanish legend Jenni Hermoso along with La Tri staples Maricarmen Reyes and Alicia Cervantes, the talent level of Liga MX Femenil is undeniable, and while it might not have the NWSL’s parity, the top teams should surely be competitive both in the Summer and Champions Cups.

If we look across the pond for inspiration, the UEFA Women’s Champions League has been a major hit, amassing record-breaking crowds year upon year. That’s where the bar should be for the CONCACAF W Champions Cup, which while on the men’s side has been underwhelming, could become a top global competition for the women.