March 1 – Concacaf is expanding the top tier of its Nations League to 16 teams and has unveiled new competition formats and qualification routes for the 2023-26 cycle of men’s national team competitions, taking them up to the 2026 World Cup to be hosted in the region.
February 28 – Just months after the country’s first appearance at the World Cup for 36 years and with plans already under way to jointly host the tournament in 2026, Canada’s football reputation has taken a hit off the field with the resignation of Canadian Soccer Association president Nick Bontis (pictured)..
February 26 – Concacaf’s membership has unanimously re-elected Victor Montagliani as president of the Confederation at its Congress in in Guatemala. The four-year term will run from 2023 to 2027.
February 27 – The union representing scores of Major League Soccer players in the United States has criticised FIFA as well as the game’s law-making body for being “short-sighted and misguided” in refusing to allow trials of temporary concussion substitutes.
February 28 – The MLS’s big opening weekend on the west coast got off to a false start with LA Galaxy’s derby match against LAFC – dubbed ‘El Trafico’ – scheduled to be played at the cavernous Pasadena Rose Bowl, postponed because of the storm that has battered the area.
February 24 – The MLS has announced a multi-year extension of its kit partnership with Adidas that sees the sports and leisure brand supply every MLS team.
February 23 – The MLS has revamped its play-off format, increasing the number of teams that qualify as well as bringing in a new best-of-3 series at the first round.
February 16 – Canada women’s coach Bev Priestman has called on Canada Soccer and her players to resolve their labour dispute over pay equality and cutbacks to the programme as soon as possible as the country enters crucial preparations for this year’s Women’s World Cup.
February 16 – Concacaf is returning to the Dominican Republic for the finals of its Women’s U20 Championship that will qualify three teams for next year’s U-20 Women’s World Cup.
February 14 – Concacaf is revamping its competition formats for the its men’s and women’s youth tournaments that will see a minimum 20% increase in the number of matches played. The new look competitions will start in April 2023.
February 14 – Following the debacle over the Canadian Women’s team strike threat, and accusations of a lack of financial transparency over the commercial deals of Canadian Soccer Business (CSB), the commercial partner of Canada Soccer, has issued a statement.
February 13 – Canada will play in the SheBelieves Cup after Canada Soccer threatened legal action against the women’s national team players. They had threatened strike action but have now returned to training ahead of the tournament.
February 10 – The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) has announced its full schedule for the 2023 regular season that will kick off on March 25.
February 2 – The AFC and Concacaf have signed a four-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) focussed on increasing competition between the two regions for men’s and women’s national teams and clubs.
Puerto Rico qualified from their Nations League A group with a win and a draw against Trinidad and Tobago, but lost twice to Mexico. Their win over Haiti in the preliminary round play-off was a seismic result.
What to expect
With a team based primarily around US-based college players, and with very little experience of international football, they did well to reach the preliminary round, but their 1-0 win over Haiti who had qualified for the 2023 Women’s World Cup was as an act of giant killing.