Wednesday 18th 2014 - A three man delegation from the SKNFA returned from the 64th FIFA Congress in Brazil on Saturday with their bags filled with good news.
The delegation comprising President Anthony Johnson, 1st Vice President, Alistair Edwards and General Secretary Stanley Jacobs engaged in the sub regional discussions that led to the reintroduction of the Leeward Islands Football competition.
A date has been set for August 9th to the 17th and all eight teams have confirmed that they will participate in the competition that has been defunct for over 10 years.
The teams have been divided into two groups of four. In group A Dutch St. Maarten hosts St. Kitts/Nevis, Anguilla and USVI while Montserrat will be at home to Antigua, French St. Martin and the BVI.
Round Robin group stage matches will be played during the first four days of the competition with the top two advancing to the finals for a criss-cross knock out style competition to determine the winner over the weekend. The finals will be held in Montserrat.
The group pledged not to allow the competition to go into dormancy again as it is being viewed as necessary internal competition that would test the mettle of the small island states before going further to deeper waters. Discussions were tabled as to how to make it bigger and better by increasing the number of islands participating. A suggestion was made to include another team in St. Barts.
Plans were also initiated for the winner of the Leeward Islands Tournament to meet the winners of the recently concluded Windward’s leg (St. Lucia) in an OECS Championship (home and away) later on in the year.
President Johnson commended the group for their commitment and commented “This tournament will be an excellent opportunity to play more football in the sub region while increasing the interest in the sport in the various territories. It will also serve as a preparatory phase for nations such as St. Kitts who wish to take part in regional competitions such as the CFU Caribbean Cup.
The St. Kitts Nevis Senior National team will host a leg of the CFU Caribbean Cup preliminaries from September 1st- 9th September.
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