TOURNAMENT FORMAT: This year marks the 13th edition of the Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship. The tournament began in 2002 as the CONCACAF Women’s U-19 Championship, qualifying two teams to the inaugural FIFA U-19 Women’s World Cup.
The eight-team 2025 Concacaf Women's U-20 Championship will feature round-robin play within two groups of four teams each. After group play, the group winners and runners-up will advance to the semifinals and qualify for next year’s World Cup. For the first time, the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will feature 24 nations, up from 16 in the previous eight editions of the tournament. Twelve nations contested the title in 2002 and 2004, when it was held as a U-19 event. The semifinals will be played on June 6 followed by the final on June 8. All matches will take place at Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto in Alajuela, Costa Rica.
The top two teams in the Concacaf Women’s U-20 rankings – the U.S. and Mexico – earned berths straight into the final tournament while the other six teams had to win their pre-qualifying groups.
EIGHT WOULD BE GREAT: The USA has won a record seven Concacaf championships at this level, including six of the last eight. The first tournament, held in 2002, produced co-champions as the two group winners advanced to the first FIFA U-19 Women’s World Cup without semifinals or a championship game being played, but the USA had by far the most goals of any team in the tournament. The USA then won seven of the next 11 tournaments, losing in the final to Canada in 2004 and 2008, and to Mexico in 2018 and 2023. The USA returned to the top of the podium in 2020, led by 13 goals from Mia Fishel, nine from Brianna Pinto and eight from Trinity Rodman, although that year’s World Cup would be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The USA won again in 2022, beating Mexico 2-0 in the title game on goals from Michelle Cooper and Talia DellaPeruta as the Americans rolled through seven victories and scored 44 goals to zero allowed. The USA has advanced to the final at every Concacaf U-20 tournament that has held one, facing Canada five times and Mexico six times in the title match.
HISTORY OF SUCCESS: The USA has compiled a 55-3-4 record all-time at this tournament. After racking up big offensive totals during the early years of the competition, the U.S. faced stiffer opposition in 2018 before rolling to the tournament titles in 2020 and 2022. In total, the U-20 WNT has scored 361 goals across 12 appearances at the Concacaf U-20 Championship, while allowing just 23.
The U.S. has qualified for all 11 FIFA U-20 WWC’s that have been contested for this age group (as well as canceled 2020 tournament) and won the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in 2002, 2008 and 2012.
SPRINGBOARD TO SENIOR USWNT: Many of the players who have scored for the USA in this tournament have gone on to become familiar names on the USWNT: Lindsay Tarpley, Heather O’Reilly, Leslie Osborne, Megan Rapinoe, Yael Averbuch, Rachel Buehler (now Van Hollebeke), Amy Rodriguez, Allie Long, Lauren Cheney (now Holiday), Kelley O’Hara, Alex Morgan, Meghan Klingenberg, Sydney Leroux, Kristie Mewis, Lindsey Horan, Julie Johnston (now Ertz), Morgan Brian (now Gautrat), Mallory Pugh (now Swanson), Andi Sullivan, Tierna Davidson, Sophia Smith (now Wilson), Trinity Rodman, Alyssa Thompson, Gisele Thompson, and Ally Sentnor have all scored in this competition and gone on to earn caps with the senior USWNT.
Fourteen of the players listed above have played for the U.S. in a Women’s World Cup at the senior level. Nine helped the WNT take home the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
2025 CONCACAF WOMEN’S U-20 CHAMPIONSHIP ROSTER BY POSITION (COLLEGE OR CLUB; HOMETOWN; U-20 Caps/Goals)
2025 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship Roster by Position (College or Club; Hometown)
Goalkeepers (3): Caroline Birkel (Stanford; St. Louis, Mo.; 0), Sonoma Kasica (Notre Dame; St. Petersburg, Fla.; 0), Kealey Titmuss (Penn State; Grand Blanc, Mich.; 0)
Defenders (7): Aven Alvarez (UNC; New Hill, N.C.; 2/0), Bella Ayscue (Penn State; Apex, N.C.; 0/0), Edra Bello (San Diego Surf SC; San Diego, Calif.; 0/0), Emma Johnson (Lexington Sporting Club – USL Super League; Greenfield, Ind.; 0/0), Abby Mills (Notre Dame; Southlake, Texas; 0/0), Leena Powell (Tudela FC; Culver City, Calif.; 0/0), Katie Scott (Kansas City Current - NWSL; Fairview, Pa.; 0/0)
Midfielders (6): Kennedy Fuller (Angel City FC - NWSL; Southlake, Texas; 0/0), Peyton McGovern (Florida State; Bristow, Va.; 0/0), Ashlyn Puerta (Sporting JAX – USL W-League; Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; 0/0), Grace Restovich (Notre Dame; St. Louis, Mo.; 0/0), Kennedy Ring (World Class FC; East Greenbush, N.Y.; 0/0) Linda Ullmark (UNC; Buffalo, N.Y.; 0/0)
Forwards (5): Izzy Engle (Notre Dame; Edina, Minn.; 0/0), Mary Long (Kansas City Current - NWSL; Mission Hills, Kan.; 0/0), Chloe Ricketts (Washington Spirit - NWSL; Dexter, Mich.; 0/0), Sealey Strawn (Dallas Trinity FC – USL Women’s Super League; Prosper, Texas; 0/0), Mya Townes (Georgia; Aldie, Va.; 0/0)
U-20 WNT ROSTER NOTES:
• Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2006, are age-eligible for the 2025 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship. The roster is almost evenly divided between birth years with 10 born in 2006 and 11 in 2007.
• This is the first time a U-20 Concacaf qualifying roster for the United States has had more than one professional player, so the seven pros on this roster are far and away a team record for a Concacaf Championship. The 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Team that finished third in Colombia had eight professionals on the roster, showing how quickly the women’s youth international environment is changing.
• The four NWSL professionals are Chloe Ricketts from the Washington Spirit, Mary Long and Katie Scott from the Kansas City Current and Kennedy Fuller from Angel City FC.
• Long, Scott and Fuller all played for the USA at the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, where the USA finished third, its best finish since the inaugural tournament in 2008 when the USA finished second. Fuller was the leading scorer for the USA at the 2024 Concacaf U-17 Women’s Championship, which the Americans won handily. Forward Leena Powell was also on both of those U-17 teams in the last cycle. Forward Mya Townes was also on the U-17 • • • Concacaf qualifying team last cycle and scored five goals in the tournament.
• Fuller has seen the most action of her NWSL peers this season, playing 830 minutes in ten matches while scoring once with three assists. Ricketts has seen action in seven matches, with two starts, while Long has played in four matches as a sub. Scott has yet to appear in a regular season match this season.
• The three USL Super League players on the roster are Sealey Strawn of Dallas Trinity FC, Emma Johnson of Lexington Sporting Club and Ashlyn Puerta of Sporting JAX. Strawn has appeared in 19 games for Dallas Trinity and has four goals, tied for second best on a squad battling for a playoff spot in the inaugural season of the new pro league. Johnson has seen action in one match this season. Puerta was announced as one of the first two signings for Sporting JAX’s Super League team on May 21, which will debut this summer.
• Of the 11 college players on the roster, four come from Notre Dame, including the 2024 ACC Freshman of the Year Izzy Ingle, who found the net a remarkable 19 times in 2024. Grace Restovich added five goals and 11 assists.
Penn State has two players on the roster in goalkeeper Kealey Titmuss and defender Bella Ayscue.
• Sonoma Kasica (Notre Dame) and Caroline Birkel, who will be entering her first season at Stanford in the fall, are the other two GKs on the roster. Birkel was one of the back-up ‘keepers on the USA’s 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Team and is the only player on this qualifying team from that squad.
• Two players from 2024 NCAA Champion University of North Carolina made the squad in defender Aven Alvarez and midfielder Linda Ullmark, who finished fourth on the Tar Heels in scoring with six goals and five assists.
• Two of the three youth club players are from Southern California in Powell, who plays for Tudela FC in Los Angeles, and defender Edra Bello from the San Diego Surf. Midfielder • • Kennedy Ring plays for World Class FC and hails from New York.
• The only player on the roster who currently holds U-20 WNT international caps is Alvarez, with two from the last cycle, so this will be the first international competition at this age level for the vast majority of the roster.
• Two players from the last U.S. team that played at the Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship in 2023 have earned full U.S. Women’s National Team caps: forward Ally Sentnor and defender Gisele Thompson.
• There are numerous players in the U-20 WNT pool currently playing in the National Women’s Soccer League who are age-eligible for this roster but were not available for this event. Those include Jordyn Bugg (Seattle Reign FC), Ainsley McCammon (Seattle Reign FC), Emeri Adames (Seattle Reign FC), Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current), Melanie Barcenas (San Diego Wave) and Trinity Armstrong (San Diego Wave). All of them have World Cup experience for the USA at the U-17 or U-20 levels or both.
• Four players on the roster helped the USA take the bronze medal at the 2023 Pan American Games in Chile where an Under-19 American team squared off against senior Women’s National Teams, gaining valuable international experience. Those players were Kasica and Titmuss, Alvarez and Restovich.
USA VS. GUYANA:
• Friday’s tournament opener will be the first meeting between the USA and Guyana in this tournament.
• Guyana qualified for the final of the 2025 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship by winning its prequalifying group over Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Haiti.
• Guyana scored six goals and didn’t allow any to cruise to qualification.
Se-Hanna Mars led Guyana with three goals, all scored against Antigua and Barbuda.
TOURNAMENT NOTES:
• Each team will be allowed to make a maximum of five substitutions in a maximum of three opportunities throughout the match, not including halftime.
• If both teams make a substitution at the same stoppage, both teams will be charged an opportunity.
• Beyond the five normal subs, each team will be permitted to make one additional concussion substitute when there is a possible or suspected concussion.
• Concussion subs are permitted at any time during the game and can be made regardless of normal subs or opportunities that remain.
• If one team uses a concussion sub, the opposing team is granted an additional sub and additional opportunity, but the additional sub can only be made after all the teams’ normal substitutes or opportunities have been used.
• This additional opportunity can only be used for the additional substitute. If a team has leftover normal substitutes but has ran out of normal opportunities, the team cannot use the additional opportunity to use the leftover normal substitutes.
• If teams are tied on points at the conclusion of the group stage, the following tiebreakers will be used:
• Goal difference in all group matches
• Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches
• If teams are still tied, the following tiebreakers will be used:
• Greater number of points in matches between the tied teams
•Greater goal difference in matches between the tied teams (if more than two teams finish equal on points)
• Greater number of goals scored in matches among the tied teams (if more than two teams finish equal on points)
• Lower number of points based on yellow and red cards in all group matches (First yellow - 1 point, second yellow/indirect red - 3 points, direct red - 4 points, yellow and direct red - 5 points)
• Drawing of lots
• Two yellows received in different games during the competition will result in automatic suspension for the next game. Single yellow cards will be eliminated at the end of the group stage.
• In the knockout stage, if teams are tied at the end of regulation, extra time will be played with two periods of 15 minutes.
• In extra time, teams have the option to make one additional substitution.
• If the score is tied at the end of extra time, the match will go straight to penalty kicks.
• At the conclusion of the tournament, Concacaf will hand out four awards: the Fair Play Trophy, the Top Scorer, the Best Goalkeeper and the Best Player.
BY THE NUMBERS:
0 Players on this roster from the U.S. team that won the 2023 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship.
2 Birth years represented on the U.S. roster: 2006 (10 players), 2007 (11)
3 Players who have won a Concacaf youth championships: Fuller, Powell, Scott, and Townes all at the
2022 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship.
4 Players have previously represented the USA at a FIFA youth World Cup
6 Different colleges represented on the roster, with players coming from the ACC, the Big Ten, and the SEC
7 Concacaf U-20 tournaments, out of 12 total, in which the USA has won all its games.
16 Different countries that the USA has faced at this tournament.
17 Years old - the age of forward Leena Powel, the youngest player on the U.S. roster by just two days
30 Games that the USA has scored five or more goals at this tournament
46 Games, out of 62, that the USA has recorded a shut-out at this competition.
55 All-time matches won at this tournament.
