Trinidad and Tobago Minister of Sport and Community Development, Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis, accompanied by the Deputy Permanent Secretary Beverly Reid Samuel and Head of the Sport Development Unit at SporTT, Justin Latapy-George, presented a cheque for TT$6,792,353 (US$1 million) to the TTFA President, Kieron Edwards, to support the Men’s National Football Team 2024 to 2025 (Year 1) journey to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted across the Americas of Canada, Mexico, and the USA.
This funding is expected to cover a period from June 2024, when the T&T World Cup 2026 campaign started against Grenada with a 2-2 draw at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Trinidad.
T&T will complete the second round of qualification with two matches against St. Kitts and Nevis on June 6 in Trinidad and Costa Rica on June 10 in San Jose, Costa Rica.
If successful, they’ll advance to the third round starting in September 2025. By this time the TTFA will be eligible for another instalment from the government for a similar amount.
At the end of the third round, the group winners will secure direct qualification, while the two best-ranked runners-up will move to the intercontinental playoffs.
Following the appointment of former national player and 2006 World Cup Captain Dwight Yorke as T&T’s senior men’s head coach on Nov. 1, 2024, who replaced interim coach Derek King after the TTFA and coach Angus Eve parted ways in July 2024, the Minister of Sport and Community Development, Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis, said that the TTFA will get the “equivalent” of US$1 million (TT$6.7M) for the first year.
If the ministry is satisfied with how the money is being spent, an additional US$1 million will be distributed for the second year of the agreement.
The financial contribution is expected to cover items such as coaches fees, support for local training, local games, foreign games, airline tickets, and other team expenses.
Yorke’s backroom staff charged with the responsibility of navigating the Soca Warriors through the CONCACAF Gold Cup and World Cup qualifiers include King, his former national teammate Russell Latapy, former Manchester United U-23 Head Coach Neil Wood and Australian Strength and Conditioning Coach Anthony Crea.
Yorke’s Soca Warriors will compete for the first time in March 2025 when T&T will face Cuba on a home-and-away basis in a Gold Cup preliminary matchup. The winner will qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament group stage, which will take place from June 14 to July 6, 2025.
