The first appearance by a Caribbean team at the finals of a World Cup was in 1938, when
Cuba beat Romania 2-1 in the round of 16, only to be routed 8-0 b Sweden in the quarter
finals.
After World War Two, the Netherlands Antilles became the region’s top side, benefitting
from regular tours to Europe and qualifying for the 1952 Olympics, but the next country
to qualify for a World Cup finals was Haiti in 1974.
A golden generation of Haitians lost all three games to Italy, Argentina and Poland but players
such as the legendary striker Emmanuel Sanon still earned contracts in Europe.
Four years later, in 1978, the Caribbean Football Union was formed. This would be the vehicle
used by Trinidadian football administrator Austin ‘Jack’ Warner, to join the upper
echelons of World football and give Caribbean football a voice and power for the first time.
The CFU’s inaugural general secretary, Warner was elected president in 1983 and held the
title for 28 years.
During that time, just two more Caribbean countries – Jamaica in 1998 and Warner’s
Trinidad & Tobago in 2006 – reached the finals of a senior men’s FIFA World Cup,
but the real power wielded by the CFU and its president came off the pitch.
In 1990, Warner was elected president of the wider North and Central American football
confederation CONCACAF and used these twin positions to help swathes of tiny Caribbean
islands achieve FIFA membership.
Joining FIFA became particularly attractive for administrators after then president Sepp
Blatter introduced regular annual payments to all members through the Financial Assistance
Programme. A quarter of a million dollars a year went a long way for islands such as
Montserrat, which only had a population of 6,000 and no formal league.
The development programme Goal - an initiative by FIFA to assist countries around the world
to construct their own football facilities - was also widely used and sometimes abused
by Caribbean nations - such as in Antigua & Barbuda, where a million dollars for an
artificial football pitch simply vanished. The deal was simple: take the money, support
Warner in all FIFA votes and stay quiet.
The Caribbean had 25 FIFA members, who were influential in choosing a World Cup host and
of course a new President. With Warner becoming a FIFA vice president the Caribbean’s disparate
islands had unprecedented influence, even though corruption allegations were never far
away and progress on the pitch was slow.
For instance, the flagship national competition, the Caribbean Cup, was never staged on official
international breaks so islands struggled to field their strongest XIs and develop.
No Caribbean side has qualified for a World Cup since 2006.
Headlines have still been made, though – albeit off the pitch.
At a meeting in Trinidad’s capital Port of Spain in 2011, it was revealed that CFU
members were offered $40,000 by the Qatari Mohammed Bin Hamman to support his bid for
the FIFA presidency. Warner was suspended over corruption allegations dating back to
the 1980s and eventually resigned.
His replacement Jeffrey Webb, a banker from the Cayman islands, moved the CONCACAF headquarters
to his home island and in 2015 was indicted by the FBI on corruption charges.
In 2016, Gianni Infantino took over as FIFA president. His ally, the Canadian FA president
Victor Montagliani, took the same role at CONCACAF and shifted activities to Miami.
A satellite office was set up in Barbados, and the Caribbean’s power was completely
neutralised under the brand slogan “One CONCACAF.”
Two Caribbean club competitions, the Championship and Shield, continue but the Caribbean Cup
has not been staged since 2017. Under Warner, officials enjoyed the lavish excess bestowed
on football bureaucrats as long as they at least entered the World Cup qualifiers. No
other senior activity was required to merit FIFA membership.
Montagliani changed that. Tiny islands such as Montserrat now play regularly in the CONCACAF
Nations League. Tightly controlled CONCACAF funds help with travel and matches are broadcast
live on the internet, often for free.
Under Montagliani, the regional CONCACAF Gold Cup was also expanded to 16 teams in 2019.
And, while some in the Caribbean welcomed those extra places as providing more opportunity
for smaller CONCACAF countries, others argued that a back door was now open for the larger
nations in case the Caribbean became took strong.
In 2019, half of the Gold Cup’s finalists came from the Caribbean, but only two of the
ten CONCACAF members not from that region missed out. And in the finals, Jamaica were
allowed to host two matches, the only two actually staged in the Caribbean.
The remaining 29 took place across the USA, Mexico and Costa Rica.
Arguably, Warner’s old fiefdom held too much sway in the region, but 31 of CONCACAF’s
41 members come from the Caribbean. Nevertheless, the money is in North and to a lesser degree
Central America.
And that feeling of emasculation and disenfranchisement deepened when plans for the 2022 World Cup
qualifiers were leaked.
Havoc imposed on the international calendar by coronavirus forced a contingency. Under
the new proposal, the six CONCACAF members with the highest FIFA rankings this summer
would go straight into the final group of six, known as the Hexagonal, with the top
three qualifying for Qatar.
The remaining 29, mainly Caribbean countries, however, faced a dogfight, with the winners
given a play-off against teams from another region.
The plans caused uproar and were dropped for a new system. The five highest ranked sides
- USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras and Jamaica – will now go into an eight team Octagonal
with the remaining teams fighting for three slots.
Qualification does not start until next year and only one of the six first round groups
is comprised entirely of Caribbean sides, but Curacao could spring a surprise.
The winners of the last Caribbean Cup in 2017 are the heirs to the Antilles, which was politically
disbanded in 2010, and are now managed by the veteran Guus Hiddink, and are mining a
huge diaspora in Europe for players.
A now ratified change to FIFA’s rules allows players aged under 21 with three or less caps
for one country to switch nationality. Curacao and other islands across the region are scouring
Europe and North America for eligible players. But just as the playing field was getting
more even, another blow has been delivered: CONCACAF rejigged qualifying for the next
two Gold Cups and handed Qatar a guest spot in the finals.
In addition, off the pitch, seven people sit on the Concacaf Council but only three are
from the Caribbean. And of five Concacaf representatives on the FIFA council, just two are from the
Caribbean.
A balance that once swung so heavily in the region’s favour has now fundamentally shifted.