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Ja to host Digicel Cup

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Jamaica will host the finals of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Digicel Cup football tournament, slated for December next year.

The hosting of the eight-team finals was wrested from long-standing host Trinidad & Tobago at Tuesday's Executive Committee meeting of the CFU in Port of Spain.

Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) boss, Captain Horace Burrell, who attended the meeting, said it took "skilful negotiation" and "strong backing" from sponsors Digicel for the final tournament to be shifted to Jamaica.

Burrell, speaking from Trinidad yesterday, said the successful bid was a major coup as Trinidad played host to the region's top tournament for 10 unbroken years.

"It took some negotiation, but in the end Jamaica's football came out the winner... hosting this tournament will certainly go a far way as we try to pump renewed life in our football on all levels," said the CFU senior vice-president.

Trinidad, Burrell claimed, went unchallenged as hosts over the 10-year period because other Caribbean territories could not meet the CFU criteria.

He said the main criterion of up-to-standard facilities eliminated other countries as contenders, but Jamaica is now in a better position.

"Many countries could not challenge for the right because they do not have the minimum requirement of two high-quality stadiums, but we (Jamaica) can now meet that... it's a tremendous honour for us to be hosting," Burrell said.

Trinidad has at least five facilities that meet the CFU criteria.

The National Stadium, Burrell noted, is already an approved facility, but with an upgraded Jarrett Park and the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium, which were done for Cricket World Cup 2007, Jamaica can now measure up.

"The National Stadium is always go, and although we've been granted the rights to host the final tournament, an inspection team from the CFU will fly into Jamaica to take a close-up look at Jarrett Park and the greenfield (Trelawny) facility," Burrell said.

Burrell, who was re-elected JFF president last month after a four-year break, said the plan is to have one group of the championship played in Montego Bay and the other in Kingston.

"Hosting one zone in (the) west... will be crucial as we try to revive the playing of international football on that side of the island," Burrell told the Observer.

While the final competition will be played late in 2008, the preliminary rounds are to be contested earlier, and by most of the 29-member nations of the CFU.

Jamaica, crowned champions in 2005, suffered a humiliating first-round exit on goal difference last year after losing 1-2 against St Vincent and the Grenadines - despite defeating St Lucia 4-0 and group winners Haiti 2-0.

Haiti, who advanced from Jamaica's group, along with St Vincent, went on to lift what has become the coveted Digicel Cup and the hefty first-prize purse of US$120,000 after defeating hosts Trinidad & Tobago 2-1 in January.

The winners and runners-up in the regional tourney automatically qualify for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.