Turks and Caicos Islands Represented for the First time in the Concacaf Caribbean Club Shield

SWA Sharks FC

The Concacaf Caribbean Club Shield is Concacaf’s primary competition for amateur clubs within the Caribbean, North and Central America. Along with the Concacaf Caribbean Club Championship, this competiton is part of the Confederation’s club competitions structure, and qualify teams to the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (SCCL) and Scotiabank Concacaf League (SCL), respectively. The Caribbean Club Shield is contested by the champions of the top leagues in Member Associations that have no professional and is and open to amateur and semi-professional leagues since the year 2019.

This is the first time in the history of football that a club from the Turks and Caicos Islands will participate in a Concacaf sanctioned club tournament. Unlike rigid national team stipulations, club football allows the participation of all football talent currently residing in the Turks and Caicos Islands, regardless of nationality. SWA Sharks FC, as the champions of the 2021 Gilley’s Enterprises Provo Premier League, seized the opportunity to participate in the 2022 edition of the Caribbean Club Shield. The tournament will be played in Puerto Rico between April 15th to April 24th.

“All young players who are involved in football from grassroots level up can now have an aspiration to be able to play and showcase their talent to the Caribbean region and beyond. This is also an opportunity for us to promote the overall development of football in the TCI, that has been going on for the past two decades under the stewardship of the TCIFA,” said SWA Sharks Director of Football, Christopher Bryan.

The competition will feature 13 teams from 13 Caribbean Member Associations split into three groups of three and one group of four. The results of the draw which took place on Thursday, February 3rd, are:

Group A: Bayamon FC (Puerto Rico), Flames United SC (Sint Maarten), Southeast FC (Dominica), Junior Stars FC (Saint Martin)

Group B: SV Real Rincon (Bonaire), SWA Sharks FC (Turks and Caicos Islands), CRKSV Jong Holland (Curaçao)

Group C: Deportivo Nacional (Aruba), Golden Lion (Martinique), Inter Moengo Tapoe (Suriname)

Group D: Scholars International SC (Cayman Islands), AS Gosier (Guadeloupe), Platinum FC (Saint Lucia)

Christopher Bryan commented, “It is a challenging draw with respect to the Curacao Champions who will be a strong team. Bonaire is an island with a population similar to Providenciales and a country who also play in Group C of the Nations League as do Turks and Caicos – we would expect to be competitive in this game against SV Real Rincorn and hopefully surprise the team from Curacao CRKSV Jong Holland. This is an opportunity to gauge our level within the Caribbean as a whole and then return in a future edition, stronger for the experience.”

The SWA Sharks FC will be led by Head Coach Gerry Gregg. The tournament will begin with a Group Stage in which there will be round-robin play from April 15-19. The four group winners will advance to the Semifinals, with the Semifinal matches to be played on April 22, followed by the Final and 3rd Place Match on Sunday, April 24.

Provided the 2022 CCCS Champion fulfills the Concacaf Regional Club Licensing criteria required to participate in the Scotiabank Concacaf League, an additional play-in match will be disputed on May 24, between the fourth-place finisher of the 2022 Concacaf Caribbean Club Championship and the 2022 CCCS Champion. The winner of this match will claim the last spot for Caribbean clubs in the 2022 SCL.

President of the TCIFA, Sonia Fulford, is enthused by the participation of SWA Sharks. “SWA Sharks is the oldest football club in the TCI and is fitting that as champions, they will take on the challenge of participating in this regional tournament. They will be showcasing the talent we possess here and this will contribute not only to increasing the visibility and profile of the country and its football, but will go miles in the growth and development of the game as well. I wish them all best and fully confident that they will do well”