Qualification among Caribbean territories for the CONCACAF Gold Cup will open August 18 in Antigua and Puerto Rico and finish with the Digicel Caribbean Championship final in Martinique on November 28, the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) announced yesterday.
Sixteen teams will open the competition in four groups of four at Puerto Rico, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados and the Dominican Republic with the group winners and two best runners-up advancing to a second round.
They will join second-round hosts Guyana, Grenada and Guadeloupe as well as seeded sides Netherlands Antilles, eight-time champion Trinidad & Tobago and Haiti in three groups of four, from which the winners and runners-up will qualify for a final group stage.
Martinique and defending champion Jamaica will enter in the third round beginning November 19 in Martinique, making two groups of four that will produce four semifinalists — the Caribbean representatives to next year’s Gold Cup.