Cayman Islands Women’s Under-20 National Team heads to World Cup qualifiers

The Cayman Islands Women’s Under-20 National Team kicks off this week in the Concacaf Women’s U-20 Qualifiers, which determines the six countries that will advance to the Concacaf U-20 Women’s Championship. The Championship then determines the four teams that will qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, in Poland.

Cayman was drawn into Group F for the Qualifiers and is scheduled to face Costa Rica, Guatemala and Aruba from 20-24 February at Ato Bolden Stadium, in Trinidad and Tobago.

“It’s a big thing for us and it’s a difficult group as well,” midfielder Samira Mellaneo said. “We’re gonna go and we’re gonna put our best foot forward and we’re gonna try really hard to get a good outcome from it. The group is a big mix of U-17s and U-20s, but a lot of us did play together when we went to Portugal for the National Team, so we did get that overseas experience as well, which is going to be really helpful.”

Head coach Michael Johnson selected the following squad:

• Goalkeepers: Naomi Wilson, Stephanie Richards;

• Defenders: Tessa Clark, Estella Ridley, Ashley Phinn-Bodden, Shardaye Powell;

• Midfielders: Gabrielle Ebanks, Samira Mellaneo, Nalani Swan, Cayden Coles;

• Forwards: Olivia Thorpe, Jada Dixon, Clara De Quintal, Reese Bateson, Kira Roberts, Emily Woolf, Taegen Williams, Renee Wambugu.

The team’s group schedule is as follows:

• Thursday, Feb. 20 | 6 p.m. vs. Guatemala

• Saturday, Feb. 22 | 3 p.m. vs. Costa Rica

• Monday, Feb. 24 | 3 p.m. vs. Aruba

“[This tournament] gives us another opportunity for the young ladies to gain more experience, more international exposure and play the game that they love,” said Johnson, noting that some of the younger players are already approaching upwards of 20 international appearances. “It has never been done before in Cayman, so it’s massive for them to continue their journey. The end goal is that senior national team. “

After round-robin play between February 20 and 25, the first-place team from each group (six teams in total) will advance to the 2025 Concacaf U-20 Women’s Championship, joining the two pre-seeded, top-ranked nations – United States and Mexico (based on the Concacaf Rankings). From there, four teams will emerge as qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

The 2025 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Qualifiers complete match schedule is available here.

This will be the 13th edition of the tournament. The first was played in the U-19 category and held in Trinidad and Tobago in 2002, where there was no champion. In 2004, the tournament took place in Canada, still under the U-19 label. The North Americas have dominated the U-20 Championships, as all the trophies have been between the three countries in that region.

For more information on the tournament and to follow the Cayman Islands’ journey, please visit Concacaf’s official tournament page.