[1][2] The competition was used to determine the four CONCACAF representatives at the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India.

The remaining nine teams were allocated to pots 2–4 designed to ensure balanced and competitive groups weighted equally by region.

The top two teams from each group in the classification stage qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, with the group winners also advancing to the final to decide the champions of the CONCACAF U-17 Championship.

If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order:[5] All times are local, EST (UTC−5).

If the final was level at the end of 90 minutes, no extra time would be played and the match would be decided by a penalty shoot-out.