Four-time champions San Juan Jabloteh will be hoping to make a winning start when they face Club Sando in the first match match of a double-header to kick off the 2016/2017 Digicel T&T Pro League season at the Mahaica Oval, Pt Fortin, at 5 pm.
Two hours later, Pt Fortin Civic and Morvant Caledonia United will meet in the night's feature match.
For Jabloteh's head coach Keith Jeffrey, it will be a chance to build on last season's shock runner-up finish to two-time reigning champions Central FC to secure one of two Concacaf Champions League qualifying spots � the Caribbean Club Championship 2017.
Jeffrey said the ambition for his youthful squad is to achieve another top-two finish.
Jeffrey has boosted his squad with the return of T&T international forward Willis Plaza and midfielder Elijah Manners, as well as talented T&T Under-20 defender Keston Julien and midfielders Kion Joseph and 27-year-old Canadian Lukas Risto. Plaza last represented El Salvador's Allanza and Risto. "Plaza will always make a contribution in the Pro League. He is the kind of player that any club will want once you want to achieve things," said Jeffrey, who also believes Manners, Julien, Joseph and Risto can make huge contributions.
Jabloteh have also retained the services of the core of last year's team. Noel Lewis, the club's most prolific forward, who was shot in his shoulder earlier this month during a drive-by shooting in his Maloney hometown, will miss the opening games while Jamaican playmaker Fabian Reid has returned to his homeland � for personal reasons following the birth of his daughter � where he joined Arnett Gardens.
Club Sando became the latest project of Angus Eve after the former North East Stars and St Ann's Rangers coach agreed to a three-year contract. Eve's success with two-time reigning Secondary Schools champions Naparima College caught the attention of club boss Eddison Dean, a Naparima College old boy and keen supporter of "Naps".
Since talking charge in June, Eve has made wholesale changes with goalkeeper Stefan Berkeley, midfielders Kevon Piper and Keron Cornwall and forward Trevin Latapy all joining from St Ann's Rangers.
Club Sando made their Pro League debut last season, finishing seventh on the ten-team table standings under coach Anthony Streete who had led them to the Super League title the previous season and before that a runners-up finish.
But at the end of last season, Sando parted ways with Streete, who has now returned to St Ann's Rangers.After a disappointing last season, new Morvant Caledonia United coach, 33-year-old Rajesh Latchoo wants to turn up the heat, especially in offence, while sticking with the club's style of possession play.
Caledonia have welcomed the return of 2006 World Cup midfielder Densill Theobald from a stint in India where he will join regulars Akim Armstrong, Anthony Charles, Keron Bethelmy, veteran Kareem Joseph and Sheldon Holder.
Caledonia lifted the Lucozade Sport Goal Shield following a remarkable rise from the qualifiers to celebrate as champions of the knockout title.
Pt Fortin raised eyebrows when it signed Christoper Furlong, a Feyenoord Rotterdam and Blauw-Wit Amsterdam winger in Holland during the late 60's and early 70's, as coach, for a second stint.
The 69-year-old Furlong, who coached the Civic in the late 70's, is now the third former T&T and Pt Fortin star after Reynold Carrington and Leroy De Leon to take up the hot seat since the club entered the Pro League in 2013.
Pt Fortin Civic, on debut in 2013/14, finished an admirable fourth under Carrington, who, after a string of abysmal performances, was replaced by De Leon beyond the halfway mark in 2014/15.
De Leon hit the ground running and finished with Civic in a creditable fifth position, but last season an eight place finish brought an end to De Leon's time in charge.
This season the league format will have two rounds and the First Citizens Cup and Digicel Pro Bowl knockout tournaments from September 2016 to February 2017 with the next season reverting to the April to December format.
Fixtures
Today
Mahaica Oval, Pt Fortin
Club Sando vs San Juan Jabloteh, 5 pm
Pt Fortin Civic vs Morvant Caledonia Utd, 7.30 pm
Sunday
Defence Force Headquarters Ground, Chaguaramas
Defence Force vs St Ann's Rangers, 3.15 pm
Tuesday
Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva
Ma Pau Stars vs Police FC, 6 pm
Central FC vs W Connection, 8 pm