| April
02, 2003
CIFA Enters Men's and Women's Teams for Olympic Qualifiers
For the first time in Cayman’s
history CIFA will enter a women’s team in this
year’s Olympic Qualifiers.
As the DHL National Women’s
League draws to a close CIFA is in the midst of preliminary
preparations for the first ever women’s Olympic
team.
“The Olympic Qualifiers will
give us the opportunity to officially launch the National
Women’s Program,” said CIFA president Jeffrey
Webb. “This will give our women much needed exposure,
an opportunity to represent their country at the highest
level and a taste of the international arena. In future
we hope to have the team participate in the World Cup
Qualifiers.”
Coach Maximo, National Technical
Director added that, “This qualifier is very important
for Cayman Football…it is one more opportunity
for our players to show their development in competition.”
CONCACAF’s Executive Committee
met in early February to approve the formats for both
the men and women’s Olympic Qualifying rounds.
Set to commence by October 1st and
to be completed by December 14th the women will first
meet Jamaica and the US Virgin Islands while the men
have been drawn against Grenada.
Twenty-six men’s teams and
seventeen women’s teams have entered from the
CONCACAF region. The men will play in head to head ties
until only seven teams remain. They will then be joined
by Mexico, who as host received a bye to the final round.
The women have been divided into
four preliminary round groups of three plus a single
two legged series between Haiti and Puerto Rico. While
Canada and the USA were both seeded into the finals
along with hosts, Mexico.
CONCACAF’s final round is scheduled
for February 2nd –12th, 2004 in Mexico. The summer
Olympics are scheduled to take place for in Athens,
Greece.
Participating CONCACAF teams:
Women
Trinidad & Tobago, Dominican Republic, Jamaica,
Surinam, US Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Haiti, Puerto
Rico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama,
Belize, Canada, USA and Mexico.
Men
Canada, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, El Salvador,
Dominica, Haiti, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, St. Lucia,
Antigua, St. Kitts and Neves, Dominican Republic, USA,
Trinidad & Tobago, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Grenada,
Cuba, Jamaica, Surinam, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Belize,
Barbados, Guyana and Mexico.
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