Caribbean Football Union

The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) is the representative organization for football associations in the Caribbean. It represents 25 FIFA member nations, as well as 6 territories that are not affiliated to FIFA. The Union was established in January 1978 and its Member Associations compete in the CONCACAF region.

Caribbean Football Union
The CFU emblem
AbbreviationCFU
Formation28 January 1978 (1978-01-28)
TypeSports organisation
HeadquartersJamaica
Membership
31 member associations
Secretary General
Camara David
President
Randy Harris
WebsiteCFUFootball.org

The CFU also runs developmental competitions, including a women's and boys' and girls' Challenge Series.

History

The formation of the Caribbean Football Union is credited to former Trinidad and Tobago national footballer Patrick Raymond. In 1976, he approached Phil Woosnam, the Commissioner of the North American Soccer League (NASL), about ownership of a Caribbean franchise within the NASL, and instead, Woosnam proposed the formation of a Caribbean Professional League. Acting on Woosnam advise, and with assistance from former England player-turned businessman Jimmy Hill and his company World Sports Academy, plus the recommendation of former FIFA President Sir Stanley Rous, that a Caribbean regional governing body as a sub-group within CONCACAF be the first order of business, Raymond introduced the initiative in August 1977 in Port of Spain, Trinidad, that eventually led to the formation of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). The CFU was inaugurated on January 28, 1978, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as the Caribbean region's governing football body and a sub-group within CONCACAF.

A previous effort to establish a Caribbean regional governing body was the British Caribbean Football Association (BCFA) in January 1957, with the Trinidad & Tobago FA's President Ken Galt as the BCFA's President, and the TTFA's Secretary Eric James as General Secretary, and in 1959, a representative BCFA team toured the UK.

In May 2013, under the direction of Damien E. Hughes, the CFU relocated their offices from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad to Kingston, Jamaica.[1] In August 2015, Hughes was replaced by Antiguan Neil Cochrane. Cochrane announced that several jobs would be moved from Jamaica to Antigua and a smaller headquarters would be rented.[2]

Corruption scandal
Further information: Caribbean Football Union corruption scandal

The union was embroiled in a scandal in May 2011 after several representatives of Caribbean Football Associations had been given brown paper envelopes containing US$40,000. The incident was reported to the CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer. The next day, footage from a private meeting between CFU officials was leaked to the public. This footage showed President Jack Warner informing the delegates who had received envelopes that the funds within were for their personal use, stating,"If you're pious, you should go to church."[3] An investigation initiated by FIFA examined the actions of over 30 CFU representatives and resulted in the resignation of the CFU president, the suspension of the organization's vice-presidents and staff, and the resignation of several national football association staff.

Presidents

There have been three presidents (and three acting presidents) of the CFU since its foundation:

  1. Austin was suspended from his position after four days for attempting to overrule FIFA in the Barbadian civil court

Derrick was banned by FIFA.

General secretaries

There have been seven general secretaries of the CFU since its foundation:

  • Jack Warner (1978–1982)
  • Ivan Barrow (1983–1993)
  • Harold Taylor (1993–2005)
  • Kerry-Ann Alleyne (2006)
  • Angenie Kanhai (2007–2011)
  • Damien Hughes (2012–2015)
  • Neil Cochrane (2015–2018)

Staff
Members of the CFU (orange), members of the CONCACAF (orange and camel).

As of 23 July 2016:[4]

President Randolph Harris (Barbados Football Association)
First Vice President Rignaal Francisca (Curacao Football Federation)
Second Vice President Jeaninne Wong Loi Sing (Bonaire Football Federation)
Third Vice President Lyndon Cooper (Saint Lucia)
Fourth Vice President Richard Dijkhoff (Aruba)
Executive Committee Members Bruce Blake (Cayman Islands)
Glen Etienne (Dominica Football Association)
Yves Jean Bart (Haiti Football Federation)
Eric Labrador (Puerto Rico)

Member associations

Current members
Nation Association National team Year joined the CFU [5] FIFA status Island group Geographical region
 Anguilla Anguilla Football Association Anguilla 1996 Member Leeward Islands
 Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda Football Association Antigua and Barbuda 1978 Member Leeward Islands
 Aruba Arubaanse Voetbal Bond Aruba 1988 Member Leeward Antilles
 Bahamas Bahamas Football Association Bahamas 1978 Member Lucayan Archipelago
 Barbados Barbados Football Association Barbados 1978 Member Windward Islands
 Bermuda Bermuda Football Association Bermuda 1978 Member Northern America
 Bonaire Bonaire Football Federation Bonaire 2013 Non-member Leeward Antilles
 British Virgin Islands British Virgin Islands Football Association British Virgin Islands 1996 Member Leeward Islands
 Cayman Islands Cayman Islands Football Association Cayman Islands 1992 Member Greater Antilles
 Cuba Asociación de Fútbol de Cuba Cuba 1978 Member Greater Antilles
 Curaçao Curaçao Football Federation Curaçao 1978 Member Leeward Antilles
 Dominica Dominica Football Association Dominica 1994 Member Windward Islands
 Dominican Republic Dominican Football Federation Dominican Republic 1978 Member Greater Antilles
 French Guiana Ligue de Football de Guyane French Guiana 1978 Non-member South America
 Grenada Grenada Football Association Grenada 1978 Member Windward Islands
 Guadeloupe Ligue Guadeloupéenne de Football Guadeloupe 1978 Non-member Leeward Islands
 Guyana Guyana Football Federation Guyana 1978 Member South America
 Haiti Haitian Football Federation Haiti 1978 Member Greater Antilles
 Jamaica Jamaica Football Federation Jamaica 1978 Member Greater Antilles
 Martinique Ligue de football de la Martinique Martinique 1978 Non-member Windward Islands
 Montserrat Montserrat Football Association Montserrat 1996 Member Leeward Islands
 Puerto Rico Puerto Rican Football Federation Puerto Rico 1978 Member Greater Antilles
 Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis Football Association Saint Kitts and Nevis 1992 Member Leeward Islands
 Saint Lucia Saint Lucia Football Association Saint Lucia 1988 Member Windward Islands
 Saint Martin Comité de Football des Îles du Nord Saint Martin Non-member Leeward Islands
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1988 Member Windward Islands
 Sint Maarten Sint Maarten Soccer Association Sint Maarten Non-member Leeward Islands
 Suriname Surinaamse Voetbal Bond Suriname 1978 Member South America
 Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation Trinidad and Tobago 1978 Member Windward Islands
 Turks and Caicos Islands Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association Turks and Caicos Islands 1998 Member Lucayan Archipelago
 U.S. Virgin Islands U.S. Virgin Islands Soccer Federation United States Virgin Islands 1998 Member Leeward Islands

Potential future members

Saint-Barthélemy became an overseas collectivity of France in February 2007, the same political status as Saint Martin.

Following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010, the public bodies of Saba and Sint Eustatius could become eligible to compete as separate entities within the Caribbean Football Union. Bonaire, which also has this political status, became a CFU member (and CONCACAF associate member) in April 2013. Each of these areas is an integral part of the Netherlands.

The islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon are in the North American region, like Bermuda (a CFU member), and are currently not affiliated to either FIFA or CONCACAF. However, the French overseas collectivity has the same political status as French Polynesia, who play in the Oceania Football Confederation as Tahiti and competed as Saint Pierre at the 2010 and 2012 Coupes de l'Outre-Mer. As such, it would appear that Saint Pierre is not precluded from joining CONCACAF and potentially, like Bermuda, the Caribbean Football Union.

Competitions

The Caribbean Football Union holds two cups:

The CFU Championship was a tournament for national teams in the region active between 1978 and 1988. It was sometimes referred to as the CFU Nations Cup. The Caribbean Cup was the international cup for the Caribbean between 1989 and 2017; the top 4 teams in the tournament used to qualify for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The Caribbean Club Championship is the championship for Caribbean club teams. The winner qualified for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup from 1997 and until 2008, and from 2008–09 until 2016–17, the top 3 clubs qualified for a preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League. Since 2017, the winner of the rebranded Caribbean Club Championship qualifies for the knockout stage of the CONCACAF Champions League, while second, third, and the winner of a play-off between fourth place and the winner of the second-tier Caribbean Club Shield qualify for the CONCACAF League.

Previously the CFU had organised a pan-Caribbean league, the Caribbean Professional Football League; it was active between 1992 and 1994.

Current title holders
Competition Year Champions Title Runners-up Next edition
National teams (Men's)
Caribbean Cup 2017  Curaçao
U-23 Tournament 2015  Haiti
U-20 Tournament 2016  Haiti
U-17 Tournament 2016  Haiti
U-14 Tournament 2018 No champion(1)
Futsal Championship 2016  Cuba
National teams (Women's)
Women's Caribbean Cup 2018  Trinidad and Tobago
Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2015  Trinidad and Tobago
Women's U-20 Tournament 2017  Jamaica
Women's U-17 Tournament 2017  Haiti
Girls U-14 Tournament 2019 No champion(1)
Club teams (Men's)
Club Championship 2019 Portmore United
Club Shield 2019 Robinhood

1No outright winner or champion emerges from this competition as it is not a competitive championship.

Representative team
For the Caribbean representative team that toured England in 1959, see British Caribbean Football Association.

A Caribbean national team has played several exhibition fixtures. In 1987 a Caribbean XI entertained Brazilian São Paulo FC and a year later a 'Caribbean Selection' played against the national team of Trinidad and Tobago. Since the formation of the CFU, games have typically taken place in Port of Spain.

Caribbean0–2 São Paulo
Report
  • Netto  72'
  • Pita  76'
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: Albert Allman
Caribbean0–2 Trinidad and Tobago
Report Jones  73', 87'
Caribbean2–2 Crystal Palace
 Report

In August 1993, CFU President Jack Warner ruled out the possibility of merging the Caribbean nations into one national football team, similar to the West Indies cricket team. He said: "There seems to be some myth outside there that a Caribbean team is the answer to football in the region. I have never heard anything so ludicrous," said Warner, "If to reach a [FIFA] World Cup have to be considered by size, why haven't China ever made it. The simple fact is, we must take whatever seems to be our liabilities and make them our assets. Being small is never a liability in this sport".[6]

See also

References
  1. Walker, Howard (27 May 2013). "Latoya DaCosta seeks to take CFU to next level". Jamaica Observer. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  2. Baptiste, Neto (27 August 2015). "Cochrane Appointed New CFU General Secretary". Antigua Observer. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  3. "Exclusive video: Jack Warner's address to Caribbean Fifa delegates". Daily Telegraph. 12 October 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
  4. Admin, CFU Web. "Gordon Derrick elected CFU President for a Second Consecutive Term - Caribbean Cup". www.cfufootball.org. Archived from the original on 2016-07-29. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  5. User, Super. "Member Associations - Member Associations". www.cfufootball.org.
  6. "Warner Rejects Idea Of Pan-Caribbean Team". Jamaica Gleaner. 4 August 1993.
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