MIAMI — Concacaf Thursday announced that Houston, Edinburg, Texas and Los Angeles will host the 2020 Concacaf Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

The competition, to be competed between eight teams, including 2019 World Cup Champions United States, and World Cup participants Canada and Jamaica, is scheduled to take place Jan. 28 – Feb. 9.

The confederation Thursday conducted the official draw to sort the eight participating teams into two groups of four, for the first round of the competition. The draw, which featured welcoming remarks from Concacaf general secretary Philippe Moggio, was executed by Concacaf head of women’s football Karina LeBlanc, with the assistance of two-time Olympic Gold medalist Lindsay Tarpley and Olympic bronze medal winner Kaylyn Kyle.

The groups for the tournament:
Group A
A1: USA
A2: Costa Rica
A3: Panama
A4: Haiti
Group B
B1: Canada
B2: Mexico
B3: Jamaica
B4: Saint Kitts and Nevis

The tournament will kick off with a group stage between Jan. 28 – Feb. 4. Group A matches will take place at the BBVA Stadium, in Houston on Jan. 28, 31 and Feb. 3. Group B matches are set for Jan. 29 and Feb. 1 and 4, at the HEB Park, in Edinburg, Texas.

After group stage round-robin play the top two finishers from each group will move on to the semifinals. The two semifinal matches, which will determine the two qualified teams to the Olympics, will be played on Friday, Feb. 7, at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif. The final match, between the semifinal winners, also will be played in Los Angeles, Sunday, Feb. 9.

In the previous edition of the Concacaf Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament, hosted in Houston and Frisco, in 2016, the United States defeated Canada, 2-0, in the final, earning its fourth straight title.

The 2020 Concacaf Women’s Olympic Qualifying tournament will kick off what is set to be a year of Women’s Football at Concacaf. In total, more than 1,400 girls and women from the entire region will have access to top level football tournaments, including the Girls’ Under-15 Championship and the Women’s Under-17 and Under-20 Championships.

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.