The verdict is unanimous. Functionaries close to the action have agreed that club football in the Caribbean is set for a boost with Concacaf’s announcement that its qualifying format for the prestigious Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (SCCL) has been revamped and expanded.

The new move, which will see the confederation’s marquee club competition move from 16 teams to 27, is expected to open doors for broader competition engagement and wide-ranging growth and development opportunities for regional clubs.

Andrew Price, a recognised local authority and respected voice on football matters, thinks the new path augers well for the underclass of Concacaf club football.

“Concacaf is moving in the right direction in building out its club platform in the region, which is similar to the Nations League.

“It (new format) will give the Caribbean countries equal opportunity as those countries in the other regions of Concacaf. It also gives the member associations the opportunity to build on their club licensing ability to make clubs more professional and prepared for global best practices,” he said.

Price says it now rests with Caribbean clubs — Jamaica included — to seize the emerging opportunities with the proverbial double-handed grasp.

“The opportunity is now there for clubs to improve the infrastructure, their youth development programmes, their governance structure, their technical department, and grants the opportunity to get international exposure for the players,” he reasoned.

Price, head coach of Jamaica Premier League (JPL) campaigners Humble Lion, noted that the recent participation of local clubs Waterhouse FC and Cavalier FC in the Flow Concacaf Caribbean Club Championship (FCCCC) in the Dominican Republic, reminded of the tremendous value that could accrue from competing in international club competitions.

“Without doubt both clubs were granted the opportunity to be exposed to global best practices with participation in the tournament. They would have benefited from the international exposure of playing a tournament with games in quick succession.

“Their preparation for the tournament was also tested within the confines of also participating in the JPL — a practice very common in other confederations. Therefore, you must look at the quality and depth of your squad,” Price concluded.

Waterhouse finished a commendable fourth in the FCCCC and also won the Fairplay Award, while JPL champions Cavalier did not fare so well.

Meanwhile, Cavalier principal and Technical Director Rodolph Speid thinks the sky is the limit for regional clubs with the new qualifying format for the SCCL, which prior only the Caribbean club champion would advance. The new format gives hope for more Caribbean clubs progressing to the SCCL, starting with the 2024 edition.

“Since it’s a numbers game, it’s possible to get more teams from the Caribbean to participate than what we usually have, and that being the case, this can only be good for Caribbean football, and with them (Concacaf) trying to start a Caribbean professional league, this will only make things better.

“Also, this would mean that more money would come to the teams and the Caribbean on a whole, and if it means we are getting more money, then more development would take place and, hopefully, we would be able to be more [competitive] against clubs that are way ahead of us like those in North America,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Speid, who also chairs the Jamaica Football Federation Technical Committee, said keeping step with Concacaf’s vigorous drive to bring clubs in line with its club licensing platform will be crucial in the process as Jamaican outfits try to position themselves to reap the benefits.

“What is important, especially in Jamaica, is to ensure that we introduce club licensing, and to me, that is the key. Of course, there is a standard to club licensing that we are trying to adhere to in Jamaica.

“So, in essence what small clubs need to do is get on board and they should not be satisfied to meeting the minimum standard, but to push to get closer to the rivals that we have,” he asserted.

Speid, a former JFF treasurer, thinks the Caribbean has demonstrated its wealth of talent over the years, it’s more a lack of infrastructural and corporate resources, plus organisational and administrative deficits that have kept America.

But that gap, he says, is slowly closing.

“We are closing the gap, but lack of resources, [below par] organisation, [lack of] access to technology and better-quality competition is [holding us back].

“As you know, it’s quality competition that drives improvement because if you keep beating clubs you are better than then that doesn’t help you in the long run,” Speid concluded.

Caribbean Football Union (CFU) President Randolph Harris says the inspiration for widening the club portfolio came in the main to bring greater inclusiveness and opportunities to the Concacaf subset.

“First of all, Concacaf’s idea was to give more opportunities to Caribbean clubs to participate in the competition. The fact is our clubs are way behind the professional clubs in North and Central America, but we had to start somewhere, so the idea was to give our clubs the opportunity to participate.

“The clubs in the Caribbean did not have the opportunity to play at this high competitive level, so now the CFU and Concacaf are looking at a Caribbean Professional League, which is very important, because if we have professional footballers, that could only redound to a higher standard of football in the region,” he stated, speaking from his homeland in Barbados on Sunday.

“The mere fact that Concacaf has expanded the number of teams for us in the Caribbean gives us the opportunity to play more football at a higher and more competitive level,” Harris added.

The Concacaf executive committee member echoed previous sentiments that Caribbean club ought to speedily prioritise upgrading their operational structures to meet the new day.

“The clubs need to be more organised in terms of the management and administration…it is now much more than just having a coach and a group of players, the clubs now have to really organise themselves more professionally, and both Fifa and Concacaf are putting in programmes for that kind of thing,” he said.

Harris made the point that a lot of regional clubs are attached to communities, and owned by the people from those locales, therefore, the current cultures are understandable. But, he insists, they must change.

“A lot of the clubs are teams, and not clubs in the truest sense, and they come from within the communities, so there is also a social aspect to this, for these clubs provide wholesome activity for people who otherwise would be idle.

“We must now look at our particular social and cultural issues, so the goal is to help them to become more operational, professional and successful as far as clubs are concerned,” Harris noted.

On the topic of club licensing which will be a key pillar in efforts to professionalise the game in the Caribbean, Harris said that wheel is already in motion.

“This (club licensing) also helps club administrators to revolutionise the process as they seek to better organise themselves, and already Concacaf is assisting and the CFU is also happy to assist in this area, but some of the clubs when you try assist in these areas they see it as you trying to limit them,” he ended.

Meanwhile, 18 teams participating in the competition will come from North America, with as many as nine sides from the United States and Canada potentially able to qualify.

Concacaf President Victor Montagliani deems the new club football ecosystem as a “hugely significant development for Concacaf and for leagues and clubs in our region”.

Under the new format, 22 teams will play in 11 home-and-away first round games, with five other teams automatically advancing to the last 16.

The tournament will proceed as a home-and-away knockout tournament until the final, which will be played as a single game one-off fixture.

The five teams given a bye into the last 16 will be the MLS Cup champion, the champion of Mexico’s Liga MX, and the winners of three new sub-regional club tournaments — the Leagues Cup, which features teams from MLS and Liga MX, the Central American Cup and the Caribbean Cup.

Major League Soccer is guaranteed at least five entrants under the revised format.

As well as the winners of the MLS Cup, places will also be given to the winners of the Supporters Shield, which goes to the team with the best regular season record, the conference winner opposite the Shield winner, and the two teams with the next best regular season records.

The winner of the US Open Cup — the knockout competition which features more than 100 clubs from across the United States — will also earn a berth into the first round.

The Seattle Sounders are the reigning SCCL champions, claiming victory over two legs last month against Mexico’s UNAM.