CONCACAF Thursday announced that IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. will host the 2018 Central America Women’s Qualifiers, scheduled to be played Aug. 27-31.

The regional qualifier, to be disputed between Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Panama, in a round-robin format, will qualify the two top finishers to the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship.

Originally scheduled to take place in Nicaragua, the confederation announced June 6 the decision to relocate the competition, following an extensive security assessment, which included an independent third-party report of the country’s sociopolitical landscape in recent months.

IMG also hosted the remaining nine matches of the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Championship June 6-12.

The competition was scheduled for April 19-29 at the National Football Stadium in Managua, Nicaragua, but violence in the country and safety concerns led to cancellation of the event April 22.

The United States also will welcome the region’s top women’s national teams for the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship, which will crown a regional champion and qualify three teams directly for the Women’s World Cup France 2019, plus the fourth-place finisher to an intercontinental playoff against Argentina. The Women’s Championship is scheduled to be played in Cary, N.C., Edinburg, Texas, and Frisco, Texas Oct. 4-17.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.