March 20 – The Caribbean Football Union (CFU), emaciated by the withdrawal of financial support by CONCACAF and FIFA, has shown that it still has some teeth left with the announcement of a new women’s competition, the CFU Women’s Challenge Series.
CFU men’s competitions have now been wholly absorbed into CONCACAF operations in the region leaving the sub-regional confederation without showcase events. CFU competitions have been swallowed up by the new Nations League investment and the new tiered club competition structure in the region.
In terms of women’s competition there was a large unfilled and unfunded gap. Now 20 teams from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) will compete in the CFU Women’s Challenge Series from April 18-29.
Addressing the need for more competitive women’s football in the Caribbean, CFU Interim President Randolph Harris said: “This is both exciting and productive for our Member Associations. The respective women’s national teams have been itching to get off the mark for some time, so we are confident that the competition will redound to the benefit of the teams and football fans across the region.”
The competition will be played across five venues: Warner Park Sporting Complex in St. Kitts; UWI JFF Captain Horace Burrell Center of Excellence in Jamaica; Stade Sylvia Cator in Haiti; Antigua Recreation Grounds in Antigua; and Ato Boldon Stadium in Trinidad.
The groups are:
- Group A: St. Kitts and Nevis (hosts), St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia and Dominica
- Group B: Jamaica (hosts), Barbados, Cuba and Turks and Caicos Islands
- Group C: Haiti (hosts), Martinique, Dominican Republic and USVI;
- Group D: Antigua and Barbuda (hosts), Curacao, Guadeloupe and Montserrat
- Group E: Trinidad & Tobago (hosts), Grenada, Guyana and Suriname
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