# 1998 CONCACAF Women's Championship

The 1998 CONCACAF Women's Championship was the fourth staging of the CONCACAF Women's Championship, the international women's association football tournament for North America, Central America and Caribbean nations organized by CONCACAF. The final stage of the tournament took place at Etobicoke and Scarborough in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Canada took the sole automatic qualifying place for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup by finishing first. The runner-up, Mexico, qualified after defeating Argentina in a two-leg playoff in December 1998.
The tournament was originally planned to take place in Haiti, but was moved due to disputes between the Haitian government and the Haitian Football Federation. This was the only edition of CONCACAF's Women's Championship or the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup in which the traditional superpower of CONCACAF women's football, the United States, did not participate. This was because they directly qualified for the 1999 Women's World Cup as hosts of the event.

## Qualification
### UNCAF qualifying tournament

The 1998 UNCAF Qualifying Tournament took place in Guatemala City between 19 July and 25 July 1998. It was won by the hosts Guatemala after defeating Haiti 1–0 in the final match. Guatemala, Haiti and Costa Rica qualified for the 1998 CONCACAF Women's Championship.

#### Group A

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| Haiti | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 6 | Final tournament and final match |
| Costa Rica | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 2 | +15 | 3 | Third place play-off |
| Guatemala B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 24 | −23 | 0 | |

#### Group B

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| Guatemala | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 1 | +14 | 6 | Final tournament and final match |
| El Salvador | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 1 | Third place play-off |
| Honduras | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | −11 | 1 | |

#### Final
### CFU Qualifying Round

The CFU Qualifying Round consisted of home-and-away ties. It is not clear whether Martinique and Puerto Rico received a bye to the finals, or whether their (unknown) intended opponents withdrew.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 15–1 | Guyana | 7–0 | 8–1 |
| Haiti | w/o$^1$ | Bahamas | — | — |
$^1$ Haiti were to play Bahamas but apparently the latter withdrew.
Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, Martinique, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago qualified for the final tournament.

## Participating teams

| Team | Qualification | Appearance | Previous best performances |
| North American Zone (NAFU) ||||
| Canada | Automatic | 4th | Runners-up (1991, 1994) |
| Mexico | Automatic | 3rd | Third Place (1994) |
| Central American Zone (UNCAF) qualified through Central American qualifying tournament ||||
| Costa Rica | UNCAF Qualifying Tournament third-place | 2nd | Group Stage (1991) |
| Guatemala | UNCAF Qualifying Tournament winners | 1st | — |
| Caribbean Zone (CFU) qualified through Caribbean qualifying round ||||
| Haiti | Winners against Bahamas | 2nd | Group Stage (1991) |
| Martinique | Unknown | 2nd | Group Stage (1991) |
| Puerto Rico | Unknown | 1st | — |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Winners against Guyana | 3rd | Third Place (1991) |

## Venues

| Toronto |
| Toronto | Toronto |
| Toronto | Centennial Park Stadium |
| Toronto | Capacity: 2,200 |

## Final tournament
### Group A

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Canada | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 0 | +39 | 9 |
| Guatemala | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 6 |
| Martinique | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 16 | −7 | 3 |
| Puerto Rico | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 38 | −38 | 0 |

### Group B

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Mexico | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 7 |
| Costa Rica | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 6 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 4 |
| Haiti | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 11 | −8 | 0 |

### Knockout stage
#### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 4 September | 4 September |
| Guatemala | 0 |
| Guatemala | 0 | 6 September | 6 September |
| Mexico | 8 | 6 September | 6 September |
| Mexico | 8 | Mexico | 0 |
| 4 September | 4 September | | Mexico | 0 |
| 4 September | 4 September | Canada | 1 |
| Canada | 2 | Canada | 1 |
| Costa Rica | 0 | | |
| Costa Rica | 0 | Third place | Third place |
| | | 6 September | 6 September |
| | | Guatemala | 0 |
| | | Costa Rica | 4 |

#### Final

Canada won the tournament and qualified for 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. Mexico advanced to CONCACAF–CONMEBOL play-off.

## Awards

* 1998 CONCACAF's Women's Championship winners
* Canada First title

## Statistics
### Final ranking

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Canada | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 0 | +42 | 15 |
| 2 | Mexico | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 6 | +14 | 10 |
| 3 | Costa Rica | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 9 |
| 4 | Guatemala | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 16 | −6 | 6 |
| Eliminated in the group stage ||||||||||
| 5 | Trinidad and Tobago | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 4 |
| 6 | Martinique | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 16 | −7 | 3 |
| 7 | Haiti | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 11 | −8 | 0 |
| 8 | Puerto Rico | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 38 | −38 | 0 |