August 5 – The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) has picked off where regional governing body CONCACAF have left off, by launching its inaugural Boys U15 tournament which will be played August 8-16 on the islands of Anguilla and St Maartens.
Originally CONCACAF had planned to host the second edition of its U15 boys tournament this month in the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, but this tournament was cancelled. 37 teams had committed to playing including Brazil and England.
Instead the CFU has stepped up to fill the gap with a 12 team tournament.
“We felt it was important to fill the gap left by the cancellation of the original tournament,” said CFU president Gordon Derrick. “For us it is about developing our younger players and that will only happen if they are given the opportunity to compete against the best of their own age.
“Losing the original tournament was unfortunate but we have been fortunate that St Maartens and Anguilla have come in at a late stage to make sure that we aren’t losing continuity.”
The 12 team tournament will be played into three groups of four with Group 1 being played at the Raymond E.G Guishard Technical Centre in Anguilla on grassed surface between Anguilla, Cayman Islands, St Lucia and US Virgin Islands.
Groups 2 and 3 will be played in St Maarten on artificial turf at the Raoul Illidge Sports Complex. Bonaire, Dominican Republic, Grenada and St Kitts and Nevis will play in Group 2; Antigua and Barbuda, Curacao, St Maarten, and St Vincent and Grenadines will be in Group 3.
The top two teams from each group and the two best third placed teams will advance to the knockout rounds in St Maarten with semi finals being played August 14 and the final August 16.
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