Caribbean Club Football League Thread

[Flex]

Caribbean comeback
By: Ian Prescott (T&T Express).

THREE Trinidad & Tobago Premier Football League (TTPFL) clubs will contest Caribbean club football competitions in 2023.

This will make it the first time football clubs from T&T will compete at Caribbean level in five years. Central FC was the last T&T club to compete at Caribbean level, having finished fourth in the 2018 Caribbean Club Championships, then held in T&T. T&T clubs had been banned from Caribbean club competitions for failure to meet club licensing rules.

Yesterday, Concacaf announced details of two Caribbean club football competitions which will take place in 2023, the new Concacaf Caribbean Cup for professional clubs and the second-tier Concacaf Caribbean Club Shield, open to amateur and semi-professionals clubs.

The champion and runner-up in the TTPFL top flight competition will contest the new 2023 Concacaf Caribbean Cup, a five-month long competition featuring 10 teams, with three teams qualifying for the new and expanded 2024 Concacaf Champions League. Meanwhile, winners of the yet-to-be-started TTPFL second-tier competition are eligible to compete in the Concacaf Caribbean Club Shield.

The new Concacaf Caribbean Cup is open to professional clubs from Caribbean countries with professional football leagues. Yesterday, Concacaf announced that six clubs have so far secured their participation in this competition. They are Cibao FC (Dominican Republic), Moca FC (Dominican Republic), Club Atletico Pantoja (Dominican Republic), Cavalier SC (Jamaica), Dunbeholden FC (Jamaica), and Harbour View FC (Jamaica).

The still to be confirmed remaining four participants will include the two TTPFL clubs and the champion and runner-up of the 2023 Concacaf Caribbean Shield. The first edition of the Concacaf Caribbean Cup will feature 10 Caribbean clubs divided into two groups of five. After round-robin play, where each club will play a total of four matches, two at home and two away, the two best clubs in each group will advance to the knockout stage, from which the top three will qualify for the 2024 Concacaf Champions League.

Meanwhile, the fifth edition of the second-tier Concacaf Caribbean Shield is set for August 3-13 in St Kitts and Nevis with 16 non-professional clubs participating. Fifteen of the participants have been confirmed with the last club, from T&T, being confirmed by May 28. Already in are SV Dakota (Aruba), Scholars International SC (Cayman Islands), CRKSV Jong Holland (Curacao), Sagicor South East FC (Dominica), OyM FC (Dominican Republic), Solidarité Scolaire (Guadeloupe), AS Etoile De Matoury (French Guiana), Waterhouse FC (Jamaica), B1 Football Club (St Lucia), Golden Lion (Martinique), Metropolitan FA (Puerto Rico), St. Pauls United FC (Saint Kitts and Nevis), Junior Stars (Saint Martin), SV Robinhood (Suriname), and SWA Sharks FC (Turks and Caicos Islands).

Both Caribbean competitions are part of Concacaf’s club restructuring exercise announced in September 2021 and serve as qualifiers for Concacaf competitions.

“The ongoing growth and development of Caribbean club football is a major priority for Concacaf, and we are extremely pleased to announce the structure and format of the Caribbean Shield and the Concacaf Caribbean Cup which will qualify three teams into the new expanded Concacaf Champions League. We believe these competitions will elevate leagues and clubs across the Caribbean and we look forward with great anticipation to them commencing in August this year,” said Concacaf General Secretary Philippe Moggio.

[Deeks]

The way the current league going, Rangers, AC PoS, maybe Point or DF. Also Club Sando ?

[ABTrini]

many 'moons' ago I started a thread ' Caribbean Professional Football League'  This was not an original nor profound  idea it was simply taking what  was happening in Cricket and trying to emulate the success or efforts of that sporting organization.

In the region , their is an active reginal play among the countries in cricket- dating back to the 'Shell Cup' and before. Now Red Stripe and other  corporate sponsorships of cricket. Successfully we have had successful and World Cup Cricket Teams-  Just wondering why we could not use that model to build on a regional football team?

What ever happened to the following ventures?

Lets go back to 1992- 95

After discussions dating back to August 1977, the CPFL (Caribbean Professional Football League) was established in 1992 to introduce professional football in the Caribbean by setting up a multi-national league. The teams entering were franchises set up by local businessmen, but the league suffered from financial and organisatorial problems.
In October 1994 the league was renamed CMLF (Caribbean Major League Football) but the 1995 league was cancelled after a number of postponements and the tournament was not revived.
Palmares
Caribbean Professional Football League
1992 Trinidad and Tobago Hawks
1993 Malta Carib Alcons
1994 Trinity Professionals
Caribbean Major League Football
1995   not held
Additional Data 1992
Participants included:
  All Stars (Saint Lucia)
  Hairoun Lions (Saint Vincent)
  Kingston Lions (Jamaica)
  St. Clair Coaching School (Tobago)
  Trinidad & Tobago Hawks (Trinidad)
  Wavers (Jamaica) [later renamed Reno International]
NB: no other Jamaican club entered

Known Results and Fixtures
[May ?]
Trinidad and Tobago Hawks 4-0 St. Clair Coaching School   
[Jun ?]
St. Clair Coaching School 3-2 Kingston Lions
[Jun 6]
Trinidad and Tobago Hawks 3-0 Wavers
  [the above match was Hawks' third; they had also won a match 4-1]
[Jun 9]
Kingston Lions             -  Trinidad and Tobago Hawks
[Aug ?]
All Stars                 bt  Hairoun Lions

Top Final Ranking:

 1.Trinidad and Tobago Hawks
 2.Kingston Lions
Additional Data 1993
Participants included:
  Kingston Lions (Jamaica)
  Malta Carib Alcons (Trinidad)
  Panthers (Saint Lucia)
  R.E. Walker Nationals (Grenada)
  St. Clair Coaching School (Tobago)
  Trinidad and Tobago Hawks (Trinidad)
NB: no other clubs from Jamaica or Trinidad and Tobago entered

NB: in total 10 clubs were announed to enter

NB: Trinidad and Tobago Hawks withdrew after their away match at Kingston Lions
    had been abandoned

Semifinal
[Jul 1]
Panthers                  w/o Kingston Lions           

NB: Kingston Lions withdrew before the semifinal stage in Grenada as
    15 of its players had commitments with the Jamaica national team

Top Final Ranking:

 1.Malta Carib Alcons
 2.Panthers
 3.R.E. Walker Nationals
 4.St. Clair Coaching School

NB: Malta Carib Alcons won the title early July 1993.
 
Additional Data 1994
Participants (:
  Caledonia AIA (Trinidad)
  Cornwall County Lions (Jamaica)
  Georgetown Cobras (Guyana)
  Hairoun Lions (Saint Vincent)
  Lambada (Barbados)
  Harbour View (Jamaica)
  Tobago Young Pros (Tobago) [aka Scarborough Young Pros]
  Trinity Professionals (Trinidad)

Known Results and Fixtures
[Apr 24, opening match, Shaw Park, Tobago]
Tobago Young Pros         0-2 Trinity Professionals     
  [Angus Eve 11, Alvin Thomas  47]
[May ?]
Hairoun Lions             3-0 Georgetown Cobras
Trinity Professionals    12-0 Georgetown Cobras
[May 22 (official opening Harbour View FC Stadium, Kingston)]
Harbour View              2-2 Cornwall County Lions
[May 24]
Georgetown Cobras          -  Tobago Young Pros         [Tobago dns]
[May 29]
Georgetown Cobras          -  Hairoun Lions             [Hairoun dns]

Reported Tables (May 24):

Group A
 1.Trinity Professionals        3   3  0  0  17- 1   9
 2.Hairoun Lions                3   2  1  0   9- 5   7
 3.Tobago Young Pros            record not reported
 4.Georgetown Cobras            4   0  0  4   2-20   0       
 
Group B                       
 1.Cornwall County Lions        6   4  1  1   8- 4  13
 2.Lambada                      5   2  2  1   6- 5   8
 3.Caledonia AIA                5   2  1  2   6- 5   7
 4.Harbour View                 6   0  2  4   7-13   2   
 
Final [Jun ?]
Trinity Professionals     bt  Cornwall County Lions   

NB: Trinity Professionals won the title early June 1994.
Additional Data 1995
Participants (as announced on May 17, 1995):

Group 1
  Hairoun Lions (Saint Vincent)
  Lambada (Barbados)
  Scarborough Young Pros (Tobago)
  Spice Nationals (Grenada)

Group 2
  Caledonia AIA (Trinidad)
  Georgetown Cobras (Guyana)
  Riverplate (Aruba)
  Trinity Professionals (Trinidad)

Group 3
  Boyo Stars (Haiti)
  Cornwall County Lions (Jamaica)
  Harbour View (Jamaica)
  Wadadli Deers (Antigua)

The league was announced to start on August 13 with a match between
Georgetown Cobras and Harbour View but that did not take place and
the tournament was cancelled.




https://www.rsssf.org/tablesc/carfootleag.html


https://www.concacaf.com/article/concacaf-to-launch-caribbean-professional-league-working-
group/

Concacaf to launch Caribbean Professional League Working Group


The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) has today announced the formation and membership of a Caribbean Professional League Working Group, with the support of world football’s governing body, FIFA.

The new group will be a subgroup of the Concacaf Competitions Committee and will carry out a comprehensive study of Caribbean professional club football. It will include the Chairman of the Concacaf Competitions Committee, the CFU President, experts with experience in football and other sectors from across the Caribbean and a FIFA representative.

The terms of reference for the Working Group have been approved by the Concacaf Council and its work will begin when the current public health situation allows. The membership of the group comprises:

Concacaf Competitions Committee Chairman, Yon de Luisa (Chairman)
Concacaf Vice-president & Caribbean Football Union President, Randolph Harris (Deputy Chairman)
Representative of Trinidad and Tobago, Brent Sancho (Member)  Wrong individual- too much interest in
 individual pursuits.
Representative of Jamaica, Christopher Samuda (Member)
Representative of Haiti, Patrick Massenat (Member)
Representative of the Dominican Republic, Manuel Estrella (Member)
Representative of Curaçao, Valdemar Florentino Marcha (Member)
FIFA representative

Administrative support for the group will be provided by the Confederation’s Competitions and Development Departments, and its Jamaica office.

"The feasibility of a Caribbean professional league has previously been explored by regional stakeholders. However, for a combination of reasons, those attempts did not get beyond the point of an early draft, with little substance and no progress made on the matter. ", said Concacaf President Victor Montagliani.

"The time is right for the Caribbean and Concacaf, with the support of FIFA, to lead the way to develop a comprehensive study which has the sole aim of the development of football in the Caribbean and the region as a whole.

"This is not about a league in isolation but also about the professionalization of football and its players, coaches and administrators in the region. This newly created group, with strong representation from the Caribbean, will take a football first approach and will be given sufficient time to consider a range of potential formats and structures.

"The insights of experts from the Concacaf Competitions Committee, the CFU, Concacaf Member Associations and local leagues and clubs will be crucial as the group diligently studies future options for Caribbean professional football.”

2---    caribbeanandco.com/caribbean-professional-football-league-work/

[Tiresais]

Same thing that always happens (and I remember commenting this in the last thread) - it's financially not viable.

Having a Caribbean league would involve a hell of a lot of international travel with hotels, ferries/planes, rented training grounds for away teams, the works. That's on top of players having to take more time off of work, which is a reality with our current levels.

And what financial return is realistic? How many currently tune in and turn up to the big Caribbean games? I remember many years ago barely anyone turning up to Central FC's home game in the Caribbean Champions League. No way any company makes a return, and making it a league compounds the issue as it has to happen so many more times than a knockout cup.

The Caribbean Cup needs financial support to exist, since CONCACAF force us to work through that medium to reach where the actual money is in the main competitions. The format is a product of financial reality - group stage based in one country where we can save money block-booking accommodation, referees, travel, and training facilities. It should, in my opinion, also be regionalised if it is expanded, i.e. into at least 4 groups gathering local countries.

The whole professional/not professional split is arbitrary and also massively increases the cost for the "non professional" teams, who consequently have to do more than one set of travel. If you want a realistic Caribbean competition you'll need to have 6 groups of 6 (biggest nations/highest ranked by CONCACAF coefficients get two entrants), heavily regionalised (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Trinidad, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana for example, or wherever makes for the cheapest flights/ferry), with 8 going through to a final qualification tournament.

[Trinidad Sports Reality]

Each team in the group stage is getting 160k US now  u win the group Bonus 40k us u make semis 80k us

[Deeks]

Each team in the group stage is getting 160k US now  u win the group Bonus 40k us u make semis 80k us

Good for a start

[Tiresais]

Each team in the group stage is getting 160k US now  u win the group Bonus 40k us u make semis 80k us

I've not seen this - where'd you see it? It's be great, as in the past all they've done is subsidise part of the travel costs and accommodation (50%?)

[Trinidad Sports Reality]

In the meeting for.the upcoming Caribbean Cup