The format for qualification had changed since the 2017 edition. The qualifying competition no longer featured Caribbean and Central American zones.
The 41 CONCACAF teams were ranked based on the CONCACAF Men’s Under-17 Ranking as of May 2017. A total of 35 teams entered the tournament. The sixteen highest-ranked entrants were exempt from qualifying and advanced directly to the group stage of the final tournament, while the lowest-ranked nineteen entrants had to participate in qualifying, where the four group winners advanced to the round of 16 of the knockout stage of the final tournament.[1][2]
The draw for the group stage took place on 19 February 2019, 11:00 EST (UTC−5), at the CONCACAF Headquarters in Miami, Florida, United States. The sixteen teams were drawn into four groups of four teams.[1][2] Based on the CONCACAF Men's Under-17 Ranking, the top four ranked teams were seeded into position one of each group, while the remaining twelve teams were distributed in the other pots, as follows:[3]
The top three teams in each group advanced to the round of 16, where they were joined by the four teams advancing from the qualifying round.
The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order:
Greater number of points in matches between the tied teams;
Greater goal difference in matches between the tied teams (if more than two teams finished equal on points);
Greater number of goals scored in matches among the tied teams (if more than two teams finished equal in points);
Greater goal difference in all group matches;
Greater number of goals scored in all group matches;