The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) has held recent discussions with its member associations, FIFA and other stakeholders as the confederation continues to plan for the resumption of its competitions across the region.

Following those discussions, Concacaf and FIFA have jointly agreed that the Concacaf Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will not be played in the FIFA match windows of October or November 2020, and will instead begin with the first round in the FIFA match window of March 2021.

Many parts of the region continue to have very challenging public health situations, and that has been a key factor in this decision. Additionally, several countries across the confederation have travel restrictions and quarantine requirements, which would make international football involving 30 national teams extremely difficult.

Concacaf will now work with FIFA to finalize a new schedule, beginning with the first round in March 2021, which will be communicated in due course.