April 16 – Concacaf have taken steps to explore the potential for a Caribbean professional league with the setting up of pro-league working group. It will begin its work in earnest once the coronavirus crisis eases.
Concacaf have previously had a working group looking at establishing a professional club league across the islands but while the names on the group were some of the biggest in world football administration, there was no end-product.
“There was a lot of hot air but not much sold thought,” said Concacaf president Victor Montagliani.
“We will start this with people on the ground of semi-professional football in the Caribbean and who have lived the realities if league football there,” he said.
The exact composition of the working group has not been named but it will be chaired by Mexican FA president Yon de Luisa with Caribbean Football Union president Randy Harris as vice chairman.
The working group will be funded and driven through Concacaf’s competition committee and will include a FIFA representative.
“There has been a lot of talk about models for a Caribbean Professional League at various times but setting up a proper pro-league with full infrastructure is not straightforward. Even in my own country of Canada where the infrastructure is pretty good we still had to wait six years for the (professional) league to kick off,” said Montagliani.
“We have got to find the right model and economics that are realistic and sustainable. We have got to get it to be about professional football with that business model done in the right way. It is not about the Caribbean but about professional football first. It will benefit the Caribbean but it will put football first.”
The working group will not begin in full immediately but a Concacaf Council meeting in May is expected to greenlight its start with an the laying down of the foundations of its remit and workflow.
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