The Caribbean Football Union, often referred to by its initials CFU, is the
nominal governing body for association football in the Caribbean as well as
Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. It represents 23 FIFA member nations, as
well as 6 territories that are not affiliated to FIFA. The Union was
established in January 1978 and its Member Associations compete in the
CONCACAF region. CFU also runs the CFU Club Championship,
a competition to determine the Caribbean club representative for the CONCACAF
Champions League. The union made international headlines
in 2011 when it was revealed that Mohammed bin Hammam, a candidate for the
FIFA Presidency, had offered US$40,000 to each national association
representative present at a CFU meeting on 10 May 2011. Several had accepted the
offer. CFU president Jack Warner was to be investigated by FIFA, but upon his
resignation the investigation was terminated. The resignation resulted in
several of the most influential members of the CFU being suspended from football
and delays of the CFU congress. Union members
= Current members = = Potential future members =
Saint-Barthélemy became an overseas collectivity of France in February 2007,
the same political status as Saint-Martin.
Following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010, the public
bodies of Saba and Sint Eustatius could become eligible to compete as separate
entities within the Caribbean Football Union, the same political status as
Bonaire. Each of these areas is an integral part of the Netherlands.
Competitions The Caribbean Football Union holds two
cups: The CFU Championship was a tournament
for national teams in the region active between 1978 and 1988. It was sometimes
referred to as the CFU Nations Cup. The Caribbean Cup is the current
international cup for the Caribbean: the top 4 teams in the tournament qualify
for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The CFU Club Championship is the
championship for Caribbean club teams. The winner qualified for the CONCACAF
Champions' Cup from 1997 and until 2008. Since 2008-09, the top 3 clubs qualify
for a preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League.
Previously the CFU had organised a pan-Caribbean league, the Caribbean
Professional Football League, it was active between 1992 and 1994.
Representative team A Caribbean national team has played
several exhibition fixtures. In 1987 a Caribbean XI entertained Brazilian São
Paulo FC and a year later a 'Caribbean Selection' played against the national
team of Trinidad and Tobago. Since the formation of the CFU, games have
typically taken place in Port-of-Spain. In August 1993, CFU President Jack
Warner ruled out the possibility of merging the Caribbean nations into one
national football team, similar to the West Indies cricket team. He said:
"There seems to be some myth outside there that a Caribbean team is the
answer to football in the region. I have never heard anything so ludicrous," said
Warner, "If to reach a World Cup have to be considered by size, why haven't China
ever made it. The simple fact is, we must take whatever seems to be our
liabilities and make them our assets. Being small is never a liability in this
sport". History
The formation of the Caribbean Football Union is credited to former Trinidad and
Tobago national footballer Patrick Raymond. In 1976, he approached Phil
Woosnam, the Commissioner of the North American Soccer League, about ownership
of a Caribbean franchise within the NASL, and instead, Woosnam proposed the
formation of a Caribbean Professional League. Acting on Woosnam advise, and
with assistance from former England player-turned businessman Jimmy Hill and
his company World Sports Academy, plus the recommendation of former FIFA
President Sir Stan Rous, that a Caribbean regional governing body as a
sub-group within CONCACAF be the first order of business, Raymond introduced
the initiative in August 1977 in Port of Spain, Trinidad, that eventually led to
the formation of the Caribbean Football Union. The CFU was inaugurated on
January 28, 1978, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as the Caribbean region's
governing football body and a sub-group within CONCACAF.
A previous effort to establish a Caribbean regional governing body was
the British Caribbean Football Association in January 1957, with the
Trinidad & Tobago FA's President Ken Galt as the BCFA's President, and the
TTFA's Secretary Eric James as General Secretary, and in 1959, a representative
BCFA team toured the UK. In May 2013, under the direction of
Damien E. Hughes, the CFU relocated their offices from Port-of-Spain,
Trinidad to Kingston, Jamaica. In August 2015, Hughes was replaced by Antiguan
Neil Cochrane. Cochrane announced that several jobs would be moved from Jamaica
to Antigua and a smaller headquarters would be rented.
= Presidents = There have been three presidents of the
CFU since its foundation: André Kamperveen
Jack Warner Lisle Austin
Yves Jean-Bart Gordon Derrick
= General secretaries = There have been six general secretaries
of the CFU since its foundation: Jack Warner
Ivan Barrow Harold Taylor
Angenie Kanhai Damien Hughes
Neil Cochrane Staff
As of 15 August 2015 Corruption scandal
The union was embroiled in a scandal in May 2011 after several representatives
of Caribbean Football Associations had been given brown paper envelopes
containing US$40,000. The incident was reported to the CONCACAF general
secretary Chuck Blazer. The next day, footage from a private meeting between
CFU officials was leaked to the public. This footage showed President Jack
Warner informing the delegates who had received envelopes that the funds within
were for their personal use, stating,"If you're pious, you should go to church."
An investigation initiated by FIFA examined the actions of over 30 CFU
representatives and resulted in the resignation of the CFU president, the
suspension of the organization's vice-presidents and staff, and the
resignation of several national football association staff.
See also CONCACAF
UNCAF North American Football Union
North American Football Confederation Confederacion Centroamericana y del
Caribe de Futbol References
External links Official website