Bridgetown: Caribbean football officials believe a new regional super-league could be in place within two years, but the ambitious plan faces major hurdles.
Discussions about the league, proposed by the sport’s regional governing body Concacaf, took place at the Soccerex Americas Forum on Wednesday and there was no shortage of enthusiasm.
“It is just a question of time,” David John Williams, owner of leading Trinidadian club W Connection, said.
“I think we have a very unique opportunity — we have sun, sea and sand and if we can marry sports with that, the sky is the limit for us.”
Concacaf set up a taskforce in March to examine the plan, with advisors from England’s Premier League, North America’s Major League Soccer and Mexico’s Liga MX as well as several Caribbean officials.
The confederation has also hired outside consultants to undertake a study of the market, but so far the taskforce has held only one meeting.
There may not be a time-line yet for the project but Williams, a member of the taskforce, believed it possible to have a league within two years.
“When you look at timetables, it would be ideal to have a Caribbean league up and running before the 2018 World Cup,” he said.
A previous attempt at a pan-Caribbean league, set up by former Concacaf president Jack Warner, lasted just three seasons between 1992 and 1994.
No decision has been taken on the format of the competition but Williams said he would prefer a full scale, traditional league structure.
