CONCACAF Nations League next edition dates announced
CONCACAF (Confederation of North America, Central America, and Caribbean Football) has officially announced the dates for the draw, group stage, and the Semi-Finals & finals for the upcoming 2024/25 Nations League. All forty-one members will be coming together to participate in this competition to improve their standing and their international matches to see who gets promoted or who gets relegated within the three separate Leagues.
The draw will be conducted on Monday, May 6th, at 7:00 PM from their studio in Miami, Florida, where it will be broadcast on their YouTube channel and all their network partners like CBS Sports Golazo network or their Paramount Plus platform. The three leagues will again repeat themselves from the last edition but this time the prize will be qualification to the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup for all these teams.
League A will have sixteen nations with the top four in the CONCACAF rankings headed straight to the Quarterfinals of League A, while the next twelve teams(Two groups of six) will be battling for the top two spots in both groups to play in the Quarterfinals of League A Those sixteen teams are CANADA, COSTA RICA, CUBA, FRENCH GUYANA (PROMOTED), GUADELOUPE (PROMOTED), GUATEMALA, GUYANA (PROMOTED) HONDURAS, JAMAICA, MARTINIQUE, MEXICO, NICARAGUA (PROMOTED), PANAMA, SURINAME, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO, USA.
League B will once again have sixteen teams (four groups of four) battling it out for promotion to League A, while others will get relegated to League C. Those sixteen teams are ANTIGUA & BARBUDA, ARUBA(PROMOTED), BERMUDA, BONAIRE (PROMOTED), CURACAO (RELEGATED), DOMINICA (PROMOTED), DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, EL SALVADOR (RELEGATED), GRENADA (RELEGATED), HAITI (RELEGATED), MONTSERRAT, PUERTO RICO, SAINT LUCIA, SAINT MARTIN (PROMOTED), ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES, SINT MAARTEN
League C will again have nine teams (three groups of three) battling it out for promotion out of the basement and headed toward League B. We had some exciting moments in League C last edition with the teams trying to move up out of the basement, but it should be a lot of fun again. The nine teams are ANGUILLA, BAJAMAS (RELEGATED), BARBADOS (RELEGATED), BELIZE (RELEGATED), BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS, CAYMAN ISLANDS, ST. KITTS AND NEVIS (RELEGATED), TURKS AND CAICOS, US VIRGIN ISLANDS.
The group stage matches will be played in September through November. The dates are as follows. September 2nd through the 10th, October 7th through the 15th, and November 11th through the 19th, and that month will be the goal aggregate Quarterfinals for League A as the two group winners and the two second-place finishers will join the top four ranked sides from CONCACAF's rankings.
The Semi-Finals are scheduled on Thursday, March 20th, and the 3rd Place and Championship Final will be on Sunday, March 23rd, 2025, at a location that's not selected at this time. Once again, this edition will serve not just for getting international games, but also for qualification to the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup be announced the exact qualifying criteria at a later date.
For me, the creation of the Nations League by Victor Montagliani has improved this region, battling each other for precious minutes that have been scarce to find in the past. There is still room for improvement, but from what I have seen, there has been positive growth on a competitive level. It's great to root for those little islands to see them attempt to move up the leagues or sad to see them fall, but this is why we love CONCACAF.