In a bid to be part of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup on a consistent basis, Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) President Michael Ricketts is urging Jamaica Premier League clubs to place greater investment on youth players.

In March, world governing body FIFA announced that the tournament, which was traditionally hosted every two years, will now be held annually beginning next year. It will also be expanded from 24 teams to 48 teams, meaning more spots will be allocated to more continental bodies including Concacaf, who previously had four spots.

The JFF also recently launched an Under-17 competition, set to begin this month, which will be contested by clubs in the nation’s top flight.

Ricketts says it will boost Jamaica’s chances of qualifying after only participating twice in the tournament’s 19 editions, with the last appearance coming in 2011.

“With FIFA’s new announcement, we thought we had to do something different with our youth programmes to ensure that we give ourselves a realistic chance of getting to the Under-17 World Cup year after year,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “The members of the technical committee, our competitions department, and others, including some of the Premier League clubs, would have knocked heads and had intense discussions on how to craft the Under-17 competition and how it impacts the Premier League clubs and ultimately our national programme.”

Though implementing this new competition, Ricketts wants to see the nation’s best young talents playing in the Wray & Nephew Jamaica Premier League.

“We have to treat football as a business and with so many talented youngsters, a number of them really have nowhere to play football [after the schoolboy season] or exert their football energy,” he said. “So a number of them just stop playing but if there is an outlet then we’re able to harness the talent of all these good young players. Have them in an organised setting then hopefully most, if not all, can make the transition from teenagers to the senior setup. It will positively impact the development of our youth programmes.

“I want to encourage the Premier League clubs, as best as possible, to expose your youngsters. Some of these clubs are bold because when I see some 16- and 17-year-olds playing constantly and consistently at the highest level, then you must have to pay homage to the work of our coaches.”

Ricketts says FIFA’s new multimillion-dollar ‘Talent Development Scheme (TDS)’, which will run until 2026, will help grow the island’s grassroots programmes.

“We were blessed because out of 211 countries, FIFA selected Jamaica as one of 25 countries to give support for their teenage programme which is a talent development scheme. We have a TDS coach who is working with us to try and bolster our grassroots and development programme,”

Former Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger, who is now FIFA’s chief of global football development, recently started TDS to help reduce the gap between large and small nations.

“The vision is that the competitiveness at U-17 level is already increased in four years and that competitiveness is transferred to the top of the game,” Wenger said. “We want more good examples, like Morocco or Japan, to show that long-term planning pays off. For those who have a talent for football, we have a responsibility to help them develop that. That’s why I believe that we want, in the next four years, to bring more good players in the world.”