Concacaf, the region’s football governing body, has approved the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) as a C Level member of its Coaching Convention.

The announcement was made during the relaunch of the JFF’s Coaching Education Programme on Thursday.

JFF Technical Committee Chairman Rudolph Speid describes this achievement and the relaunch of the programme as one of the Federation’s most important initiatives.

“At the heart of player development at every level is the coach,” Speid said. “Better coaches make better players, better players make better teams, better teams make better leagues, better leagues make better national teams. It is a fact.”

The programme has been restructured and the JFF says more emphasis will be placed on improving how coaches train, monitor and are supported from the grass-roots level up.

“Jamaica will now operate under a unified internationally recognised coaching framework,” Speid said. “This means that all licensed coaches will now fall under a structured pathway, quality assurances, mandatory assessments, and increased opportunities for professional careers.”

Speid says that with the JFF securing the C Level, he was told that the body is now preparing an application for B status.

The JFF also plans to offer Pro Licenses as of next year, in partnership with Concacaf and its European counterpart, UEFA. This allows coaches to work professionally and at the highest level.

These courses will consist of practical and theory-based lesson plans, and all licences obtained will be valid for three years. Renewal of these licences will require a mandated 15 hours of field work, called Continuous Professional Development, during that three-year period. However, coaches can bypass the 15-hour requirement if they choose to attain a higher licence instead.

However, there are still some local coaches who believe their experience means they do need these licences to function as coaches at local teams. Speid says that based on Concacaf’s new mandate, unless these coaches adhere to the framework, they will be out of work.

“They will find that Concacaf has just passed a rule that anyone who coaches at the club or international level in their competitions must have a pro licence by 2030,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “This means at this particular point, if you’re not enrolled in an A Licence programme, which takes one and a half years, then you have to sit out another year, then it takes another one and a half years minimum to pass your pro, that means roughly about four years. So if you are not enrolled in an A Licence programme at this particular moment, then in 2030, no matter how great you think you are, you’ll never be able to coach a club or national team in a Concacaf competition.

“They are on a different trajectory from where the world is going, and they’re going to lose out in the end.”