For the first time ever, Trinidad and Tobago will enter a national team in an international beach football competition as it takes part in the 2013 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship in Nassau, Bahamas May 8-12, 2013.
CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb will preside over the draw procedure, to be performed by Confederation General Secretary Enrique Sanz and observed by Director of Competitions Horace Reid. President Webb is honored to also join Bahamian Football Association President Anton Sealey and General Secretary Frederick Lunn for the event.
TTFF President Raymond Tim Kee, speaking while at the Westin Playa hotel in Panama for the CONCACAF Ordinary Congress, was pleased to announce that T&T had been accepted by CONCACAF to be part of the campaign.
"This is another first for us and we are very pleased to be able to have a Trinidad and Tobago Beach Soccer team participate in the CONCACAF championships in the Bahamas," Tim Kee told TTFF Media.
He added that a national team comprising of players who have been participating at the BagoSports Beach tournament in Tobago for the past three years, is currently in training and further details on T&T's participation will be revealed in due course. Tim Kee added that this was just one of a few positive developments for the TTFF that have come about in recent days, promising to disclose more within the next couple of days.
This year's tournament will be the largest in Confederation beach soccer history, featuring all eight squads from the 2011 Championship in addition to three debutant sides, making for eleven total teams from across the CONCACAF region. That number marks an all-time high in terms of participation in the competition, and nearly doubles the number of competing teams from the opening edition of the championship six years ago.
"The widespread interest in this tournament provides confirmation of the growth of beach soccer throughout the Confederation, contributing to the strengthening of our sport across disciplines," said CONCACAF President Webb.
"It pleases me to note that the CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship is set to be held for the first time in the Caribbean, an area where the sport continues to makes great strides."
Nations competing for the chance to represent CONCACAF in this year's FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Papeete, Tahiti, include host nation the Bahamas and 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup semifinalist El Salvador, as well as defending CONCACAF champion Mexico. Rounding out the field are debutants Guyana, Puerto Rico and T&T, along with returnees Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Jamaica, and the United States.