Towards the true potential for Jamaica’s football

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Jamaica Under-17 starting team members pose ahead of the 10-1 victory over Cayman Islands in the Concacaf Championship encounter at the Estadio Cementos Progeso in Guatemala on February 12, 2025.

Jamaican football watchers will be keeping their fingers crossed that the national Under-17s avoid defeat in their table-topping Concacaf Group H game against El Salvador tonight.

A win or draw will ensure Jamaica’s place at the FIFA age group World Cup later this year.

And in women’s football, there is optimism that a new chapter is about to open with the start of a rebranded Jamaica Women’s Premier League (JWPL) in March.

We are told that the newly established Professional Women’s Football Jamaica Limited (PWFJL) will oversee the marketing, commercialisation and development of that league.

Inevitably, parallels are being drawn with Professional Football Jamaica Limited (PFJL), which has been in charge of the much-improved men’s premier league since 2020.

As is the case with the men, the management group for the women’s league will be headed by a top business professional — Ms Christina Hudson.

Given Jamaica’s outstanding achievements at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup we agree with Ms Hudson’s assertion that this is “the moment for women’s football”, and that the “product” is not a “hard sell”.

And even if we question her insistence that “there’s really no way we can fail”, we have to admire her enthusiasm.

The truth, though, is that outside of our professionals who play abroad, Jamaica’s football — women and men — is rooted in amateurism.

Building a professional mindset is not easy, though men’s football is much further ahead.

As the Concacaf women’s club league confirmed last year, Jamaica’s top local women’s football team was light years behind those in North and Central America.

And, the schoolgirls’ league has been inadequate in preparing Jamaica’s young women for higher-level competition.

A big problem is always money. In that respect we are pleased at news that in addition to long-term sponsor, paint and coating manufacturer Sherwin Williams, there will be a record number of sponsors for the women’s premier league in 2025 .

There is no doubt that at club and age group levels, men’s football is showing improvement. Hence, widespread optimism that the current Under-17 men’s team will qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

That would be the third time for Jamaica at that age group level and the first squad from this country to reach three World Cup Finals.

Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) General Secretary Mr Dennis Chung makes the solid point that “…many of the players are locally based. We did well in the Under-14s, and now the Under-17s are excelling. This sets the stage for the U-20s and, eventually, the senior team…”

Obviously, as Mr Chung has said, success for the national Under-17s would “be a big plus for local football, for the JFF, and also for the country”.

Not to be discounted would be the attraction of far more financial support than is now the case from corporate Jamaica as well as Government.

We speak not only of direct support for national teams, clubs, schools, etc, but also stadia and playing facilities.

We need only look at Jamaica’s playing facilities relative to the wider region to see how much further we need to go if our football is ever to achieve its true potential.

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