Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz will kick off their FIFA Women 2023 World Cup in early 2022 after CONCACAF announced that the women qualifiers will now begin play during the FIFA Women’s Window of February.

The Jamaican women are scheduled to bow into competition on February 17 against Bermuda.

The first round of the region’s qualifiers to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2024 Women’s Football Olympic Tournament were originally scheduled to kick off during the FIFA Women’s Match Window of November 2021. 

However, the scheduling change has been made due to challenges associated with travel into and within certain countries in the region due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, CONCACAF said.

“The Confederation believes this is in the best interests of the tournament, players and officials,” it said in a statement. 

“These matches are the first stage of CONCACAF new women’s national teams’ ecosystem and will be part of a hugely important year of Women’s football in our region. In addition to the CONCACAF W Qualifiers, 2022 will also include the CONCACAF W Championship, the CONCACAF Women’s U-20 and U-17 competitions and the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica.”

Notwithstanding, the schedule change, matches taking place during the FIFA Women’s Match Window of April 2022 remains unchanged. 

Jamaica plays in Group C alongside Bermuda, Grenada and the Cayman Islands.

Meanwhile, Group A will have Mexico, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Antigua and Barbuda and Anguilla, Group B will comprise Costa Rica, Guatemala, Saint Kitts and Nevis, US Virgin Islands, and Curacao while Group D will have Panama, El Salvador, Barbados, Belize and Aruba.

Haiti, Cuba, Honduras, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and British Virgin Islands will form Group E and Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Nicaragua, Dominica and Turks and Caicos Islands will be in Group F.

After group stage play, where each nation will play two matches at home and two matches away, the top finisher in each of the groups will advance to the CONCACAF W Championship, joining the top two ranked CONCACAF nations (USA and Canada) who have received a bye straight to the W Championship which takes place in July 2022.