Jamaica’s under 17 youth football teams will have to go through a new format in order to qualify for the FIFA U-17 Men’s and FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.

The announcement by regional governing body Concacaf follows FIFA’s confirmation earlier this year that it will increase the frequency of both events which will become annual competitions with expanded participation to 48 and 24 teams, respectively.

Under the new format, the U-17 Men’s qualifiers will consist of a single round with participating teams divided into eight groups.

After round-robin play, in which each team will play against each team in its group once, the group winners will qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

The first edition of the Concacaf U-17 Men’s Qualifiers under the new format will take place between February 7 and 16, 2025.

The draw will take place on October 24.

The new Concacaf U-17 Women’s Qualifiers will consist of two rounds, with the four highest-ranked participating Concacaf Member Associations (based on the Concacaf U-17 Women’s Rankings) receiving a bye to the Final Round.

For round one, teams ranked fifth and below will be split into six groups, with the six group winners and the two best second-place finishers advancing to the final round where they will join the four top-ranked member associations.

The final round will be played in a group format, consisting of three groups of four teams each. After round-robin play, the six group winners and the two best second-place finishers (eight teams in total) will advance to the Final Round where they will join the four top-ranked teams (twelve in total).

The three group winners and the best second-place finisher will qualify for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.

The first round of the Concacaf Women’s Qualifiers will take place between January 27 to February 1 with March 31 to April 6 designated as the dates for the final round.

The draw takes place on October 16 at the Concacaf Headquarters in Miami.