Bahamas warms up for Beach World Cup hosting with CONCACAF finals

October 17 – Bahamas, host of the 2017 Beach Soccer World Cup, will also host the 2017 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship. That competition will qualify two teams to the World Cup finals, alongside hosts Bahamas.

The 16 team CONCACAF championship will be played February 20-26, while the World Cup kicks off two months later, April 27 – May 7.

The draw for the regional championship takes place today in Miami at 10:00 am ET and can be watched live on CONCACAF’s Facebook page.

Bahamas are the highest ranked Caribbean nation in the world rankings at 55, the seventh highest CONCACAF nation. Mexico are the highest ranked CONCACAF nation at 10th and El Salvador second highest ranked at 18th.

Anton Sealey, president of the Bahamas Football Association said: “We are very proud to welcome once again the CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship. The fans will have an extraordinary opportunity to see the best teams compete for the title. Bahamians have embraced beach soccer and we are confident that this tournament will help generate greater excitement and anticipation for the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.”

The draw for the 2017 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship will be made up of the following teams:

Caribbean Football Union (CFU): Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands

North America: Canada, Mexico, United States

Central American Football Union (UNCAF): Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama

CONCACAF General Secretary Philippe Moggio. “Beach soccer holds a very special place in this nation as displayed when it hosted the Confederation’s qualifying tournament in 2013. We look forward to an exhilarating competition, while leveraging it as a powerful platform to strengthen the game within our region.”

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