Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
Related Articles
The Caribbean Football Trust Limited (CFTL) will create a monumental event in the history of Caribbean football. In 2017 there will be the official launch of the Caribbean League Futbol (CLF) featuring the legendary Pele’s Brazilian home team of Santos FC from Sao Paulo.
In 1972 Santos FC, featuring three (3) times Brazilian World Cup winner “PELE” toured the Caribbean countries of Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago with much success.
Now, in 2017, forty-five (45) years later Santos FC will take center stage in a Best of three (3) games series kicking off January 27 at the Windsor Park in Dominica continuing January 29 at the Arnos Vale Stadium in St. Vincent and then on February 4, the final game will be played at the Andre Kamperveen Stadium in Suriname.
The final game will be for the prestigious inaugural “ISLANDS CUP OPEN” and would be versus the newly established COMBINE ISLANDS FC. CFTL is also preparing to offer fans a “Major International Friendly” bonus game featuring two (2) major International clubs scheduled for February 1 in St. Vincent at the Arnos Vale Stadium.
Several International Elite Marquee players will be representing the COMBINE ISLANDS FC team as guest players in all three (3) games. The names of these players will be announced in the upcoming weeks.
The Caribbean Football Trust Limited (CTFL) has announced the establishment of the CLF:-.
The CLF will be a professional twelve (12) week regional tournament with eight (8) teams competing for the league title and over three million USD ($3,000,000.00) dollars in prize money. This will increase up to five million USD ($5,000,000.00) dollars after the first three (3) years.
After years of planning by the Directors of the CTFL and its partners, the Chairman and CFO of the CTFL, Chris Anderson made the announcement yesterday at a Board Meeting.
“This is a proud moment for all of us in the Caribbean as there will finally be a very high profile professional league in the region and our players and coaches can earn a living participating in the sport they love,” said Chris Anderson.
This announcement comes after support (as it relates to the concept and structure) was garnered from several regional Associations’ presidents as well as Heads of State and Ministers of Tourism. The vision of stimulating the regional tourism product and placing focus on Sports and Entertainment Tourism as a main platform to drive their Tourism products would be of benefit to the region.
CFTL’s main focus is to establish across CARICOM member states modern sports and entertainment complexes, including sports rehab centers and vacation/ residential estate homes. These will be targeted to multi-million dollar earning athletes and entertainers. CFTL is confident that this aspect of the project is of utmost importance for the region.
One of the major aims of the CLF is to fast track the development of young regional footballers and to show-case their talents on the international stage. This will lead to an improvement in the performance of Caribbean players whether at club or national level. It is hoped that this will result in more Caribbean member national teams appearing at FIFA World Cup competitions.
In depth discussions have been on going with entities outside of the CONCACAF region. These include entities from Europe, the Middle East and Asia with regards to investment and sponsorship in this new CLF Intellectual property initiative.
CFTL looks forward to finalizing the commitment of the first set of Marquee players and Head coaches. These announcements will be made within the next few months in time for the CLF 2017 kick off.
The CLF shall be operational for a twelve (12) weeks period between June and August of each calendar year. The first official competitive season shall consist of scheduled games three (3) days per week: Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, (all double headers) to be played in the selected countries in two (2) groups of four (4) clubs per hub. In addition to the regular season and its play-off Champions Cup titles CLF shall organize two (2) CLF All Star teams for annual friendly games at the end of each season to showcase the collective talent of the region. CFTL will host games in markets where international games are not regularly hosted.
About the ISLANDS CUP OPEN Tournament 2017:
The schedule for the inaugural ISLANDS CUP OPEN Tournament 2017 will be as follows:
| Match Day | Date | Venue | Game |
| #1 | January 27 | Windsor Park, Dominica | Santos FC vs Combine Islands FC |
| #2 | January 29 | Arnos Vale Stadium, St. Vincent | Santos FC vs Combine Islands FC |
| #3 | February 1 | Arnos Vale Stadium, St. Vincent | Potential bonus game TBA |
| #4 | February 4 | Andre Kamperveen Stadium, Suriname | Santos FC vs Combine Islands FC |
Followed by:
– MVP presentation after each game
– Presentation of the ISLANDS CUP OPEN trophy after Game 4
– Tail gate party to include elite Trinidad & Tobago Soca artist Machel Montano and/or another International Reggae artist
