Jamaica’s football programme is often criticised by local supporters but for nations like Bermuda, it’s viewed as a blueprint for success and the president of their football association, Mark Wade, is hoping that it will lead to them eventually qualifying for the world’s biggest tournaments.

The Caribbean island, with a population of around 64,000 people, is currently ranked below the 145 mark for both the men’s and women’s teams of the FIFA world rankings. They’ve never qualified for a World Cup tournament but did create history in 2019 when they participated in the Concacaf Gold Cup and managed a famous win over Nicaragua, though it wasn’t enough to get them out of the group.

Their aim is to follow in the footsteps of Jamaica and make a World Cup, whether at the senior or age group level. But while the Caribbean’s number one ranked Reggae Boyz and Reggae Girlz have benefited from British and American-born players helping them achieve their objectives, Wade says Bermuda’s national teams don’t have the same luxury, which is making them pivot towards another strategy.

“We have very stringent immigration rules and we’re still a British dependent territory, so that’s kind of difficult for us but to get players in leagues around the world is one of the things we’re going to have a real look at,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“We’ve had a few years of getting them in boarding schools and academies, especially in the UK but now we have to try to get them playing at a higher level. A lot of our players are in non-league football in the UK so we want try to get more players, like Nahki Wells, who is playing for Bristol City, at that level or higher.”

Wade, together with St Lucia FA President Lyndon Cooper, travelled to Jamaica recently as part of Concacaf President Victor Montagliani’s tour of the island. During the visit, Wade held discussions with Jamaica Football Federation President Michael Ricketts, General Secretary Dennis Chung and Sports Minister Olivia Grange. He says it’s his intention to incorporate some of Jamaica’s initiatives back home.

“The biggest thing I learnt, which is exciting and challenging at the same time, is to hear that there’s a health and life insurance for Jamaica’s elite athletes. That for me is huge and I want to be able to take that back to Bermuda and see if our Government can put something similar in place,” said Wade.

“[Also], we actually have a little exchange programme with [Jamaican] referees and expanding that into players and coaches is a natural progression and something for us to look at.”

While admitting things aren’t perfect, Wade, who has served as president for the last eight years, says Bermuda is on the right track.

“We put together a strategic plan back in 2020 and in that plan, we wanted to improve our administration at our clubs which we’re still working through. We also wanted to try, and still want to, play in the World Cup finals whether it be male or female or any of the youth age groups. That’s our goal and we’re still steadily working towards that.”

Bermuda’s national men’s team finished second in their group in the Concacaf Nations League B, which meant they missed out on qualification to League A.

However, they have qualified for the preliminaries of the 2025 Gold Cup where they could potentially face the region’s top teams including the Reggae Boyz.

Bermuda’s national women’s team have been relatively inactive in 2024 with only two international friendlies against Belize in July.

Bermuda is a host nation for next year’s Concacaf Under-17 qualifiers but have been drawn in Group A with favourites Canada. Only the group winners will advance to the World Cup in Qatar.