Alvin Jones #16 of Trinidad and Tobago celebrates scoring with teammates throughout the second half in opposition to the US at Hasely Crawford Stadium on Nov. 20, 2023 in Port of Spain, Trinidad And Tobago.
Picture by John Dorton/ISI Pictures/USSF/Getty Photographs for USSF
Trinidad and Tobago Minister of Sport and Neighborhood Growth, Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis, accompanied by the Deputy Everlasting Secretary Beverly Reid Samuel and Head of the Sport Growth Unit at SporTT, Justin Latapy-George, introduced a cheque for TT$6,792,353 (US$1 million) to the TTFA President, Kieron Edwards, to help the Males’s Nationwide Soccer Workforce 2024 to 2025 (Yr 1) journey to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted throughout the Americas of Canada, Mexico, and the USA.
This funding is predicted to cowl a interval from June 2024, when the T&T World Cup 2026 marketing campaign began in opposition to Grenada with a 2-2 draw on the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Trinidad.
T&T will full the second spherical of qualification with two matches in opposition to St. Kitts and Nevis on June 6 in Trinidad and Costa Rica on June 10 in San Jose, Costa Rica.
If profitable, they’ll advance to the third spherical beginning in September 2025. By this time the TTFA shall be eligible for one more instalment from the federal government for the same quantity.
On the finish of the third spherical, the group winners will safe direct qualification, whereas the 2 best-ranked runners-up will transfer to the intercontinental playoffs.
Following the appointment of former nationwide participant and 2006 World Cup Captain Dwight Yorke as T&T’s senior males’s head coach on Nov. 1, 2024, who changed interim coach Derek King after the TTFA and coach Angus Eve parted methods in July 2024, the Minister of Sport and Neighborhood Growth, Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis, mentioned that the TTFA will get the “equal” of US$1 million (TT$6.7M) for the primary yr.
If the ministry is happy with how the cash is being spent, a further US$1 million shall be distributed for the second yr of the settlement.
The monetary contribution is predicted to cowl objects reminiscent of coaches charges, help for native coaching, native video games, overseas video games, airline tickets, and different group bills.
Yorke’s backroom employees charged with the accountability of navigating the Soca Warriors by the CONCACAF Gold Cup and World Cup qualifiers embody King, his former nationwide teammate Russell Latapy, former Manchester United U-23 Head Coach Neil Wooden and Australian Power and Conditioning Coach Anthony Crea.
Yorke’s Soca Warriors will compete for the primary time in March 2025 when T&T will face Cuba on a home-and-away foundation in a Gold Cup preliminary matchup. The winner will qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup match group stage, which is able to happen from June 14 to July 6, 2025.
