Qualifying
| Region | Qualification Tournament | Qualifiers |
|---|---|---|
| Caribbean (CFU) | Caribbean U-20 qualifying tournament | Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago† |
| Central America (UNCAF) | Central American U-20 qualifying tournament | Costa Rica El Salvador Honduras‡ |
| North America (NAFU) | Automatically qualified | Canada Mexico United States |
- Notes
- † Trinidad and Tobago automatically qualified and did not participate in the qualification tournament due to their status as tournament hosts.
- ‡ The runner up from the Caribbean region, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the 3rd place finisher from the Central American region, Honduras, played a playoff to determine the 8th and final qualifier for the tournament proper. The match was a one-game playoff on 2 March, four days prior to the opening of the tournament, in Macoya. Honduras won the match 3–1.
Read more about this topic: 2009 CONCACAF U-20 Championship