Sev­er­al na­tions have faced chal­lenges such as crime, po­lit­i­cal in­sta­bil­i­ty, and so­cial de­spair yet found a path to hope and progress through sports, par­tic­u­lar­ly foot­ball. A clos­er look along with com­par­isons shows that these sto­ries res­onate with Trinidad and To­ba­go’s cur­rent strug­gles and can serve as a source of in­spi­ra­tion.

Colom­bia faced se­vere chal­lenges in the 1980s and 1990s, in­clud­ing drug car­tels, vi­o­lence, and po­lit­i­cal in­sta­bil­i­ty. Cities like Medel­lín were con­sid­ered some of the most dan­ger­ous in the world. The na­tion­al team’s fail­ure to qual­i­fy for ma­jor tour­na­ments re­flect­ed the coun­try’s tur­moil. 

When Fran­cis­co Mat­u­rana served as head coach of our na­tion­al team in 2008/09, he shared sev­er­al sto­ries with us dur­ing his time here. In fact, the in­ter­view with Fran­cis­co Mat­u­rana is an in­ter­vie­wee in the 2010 doc­u­men­tary The Two Es­co­bars, which ex­plores the lives of Colom­bian play­er An­dres Es­co­bar and drug lord Pablo Es­co­bar, was filmed at the Crowne Plaza Ho­tel (now Radis­son) in Port of Spain.

The suc­cess of the Colom­bian na­tion­al team in the 1990s, led by play­ers like Car­los Valder­ra­ma and Rene Hi­gu­i­ta, be­came a sym­bol of na­tion­al pride. De­spite Es­co­bar’s trag­ic mur­der af­ter the 1994 World Cup, the sport uni­fied a frac­tured na­tion. Pro­grams like “Fút­bol con Corazón” used foot­ball as a tool for so­cial in­te­gra­tion and crime pre­ven­tion. To­day, foot­ball acad­e­mies in Colom­bia help young peo­ple avoid gang vi­o­lence, cre­at­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties for ed­u­ca­tion and ca­reers. Note Colom­bia’s cur­rent re­turn to dom­i­nance in South Amer­i­ca.

To­day, our own Trinidad and To­ba­go al­so faces ris­ing crime rates, gang vi­o­lence, and so­cio-eco­nom­ic dis­par­i­ties. Like Colom­bia, us­ing foot­ball to unite com­mu­ni­ties and in­spire hope can have a trans­for­ma­tive ef­fect, es­pe­cial­ly with up­com­ing World Cup qual­i­fiers in 2025.

The Strug­gle - South Africa en­dured decades of apartheid, which cre­at­ed deep racial and eco­nom­ic di­vides. Post-apartheid, the na­tion faced high crime rates, pover­ty, and mis­trust be­tween com­mu­ni­ties. The 1995 Rug­by World Cup, host­ed and won by South Africa, be­came a uni­fy­ing mo­ment. Nel­son Man­dela’s ap­pear­ance in a Spring­bok jer­sey sym­bol­ised rec­on­cil­i­a­tion.

Sim­i­lar­ly, host­ing the 2010 FI­FA World Cup gave the na­tion a plat­form to show­case its progress. In­fra­struc­ture im­prove­ments, job cre­ation, and com­mu­ni­ty en­gage­ment pro­grams were launched, cre­at­ing a sense of pride and op­ti­mism.

While T&T doesn’t face as much racial di­vide as apartheid South Africa, the sense of di­vi­sion be­tween com­mu­ni­ties plagued by crime and those un­touched by it can be bridged through foot­ball and sport.

South Africa’s crick­et sto­ry demon­strates that a sport steeped in di­vi­sion can be­come a tool for uni­ty and progress when com­bined with vi­sion­ary lead­er­ship, in­clu­sive poli­cies, and grass­roots de­vel­op­ment. Trinidad and To­ba­go, amid its strug­gles, can draw lessons from this jour­ney to lever­age sports as a path­way to na­tion­al re­new­al and glob­al recog­ni­tion.

The Strug­gle: Brazil’s fave­las are no­to­ri­ous for pover­ty, vi­o­lence, and lack of op­por­tu­ni­ties. Many youths fall in­to gang life due to the ab­sence of vi­able al­ter­na­tives. The Turn­around: Foot­ball leg­ends like Pelé, Romário, Ronald­in­ho, Ney­mar, and even ex-T&T-based pro Jose Seabra emerged from hum­ble be­gin­nings in the fave­las, in­spir­ing mil­lions. Pro­grams like “Gol de Le­tra” and the “Favela Street” ini­tia­tive use foot­ball to teach life skills, cre­ate em­ploy­ment, and of­fer a path­way out of pover­ty.

The 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, de­spite some con­tro­ver­sies, gave Brazil glob­al recog­ni­tion and in­vest­ment in in­fra­struc­ture. T&T has com­mu­ni­ties fac­ing sim­i­lar strug­gles with pover­ty and lim­it­ed op­por­tu­ni­ties for youth. De­vel­op­ing grass­roots foot­ball pro­grams and high­light­ing lo­cal he­roes who rise above their cir­cum­stances can in­spire change and mo­ti­vate progress.

The Strug­gle: Ice­land, with a pop­u­la­tion of just over 300,000, had min­i­mal re­sources and in­fra­struc­ture for foot­ball. Harsh weath­er con­di­tions and a lack of fa­cil­i­ties meant lim­it­ed op­por­tu­ni­ties for youth de­vel­op­ment.

The Turn­around: A na­tion­wide in­vest­ment in foot­ball be­gan in the ear­ly 2000s, with the con­struc­tion of in­door fa­cil­i­ties and a fo­cus on coach­ing ed­u­ca­tion. By 2016, Ice­land reached the quar­ter-fi­nals of the Eu­ro­pean Cham­pi­onship, cap­tur­ing glob­al at­ten­tion. This suc­cess cre­at­ed na­tion­al pride, en­cour­aged youth par­tic­i­pa­tion in sports, and boost­ed Ice­land’s tourism and econ­o­my.

Com­par­i­son to T&T: While T&T has a larg­er pop­u­la­tion and warmer cli­mate, the lack of con­sis­tent­ly avail­able in­fra­struc­ture and world-class train­ing fa­cil­i­ties and elite-lev­el coach­ing pos­es sim­i­lar chal­lenges. A fo­cused and con­tin­u­ous in­vest­ment in youth and fa­cil­i­ties could yield long-term ben­e­fits, much like Ice­land’s ap­proach. This can­not be po­lit­i­cal­ly mo­ti­vat­ed one-offs.

The Strug­gle: Rwan­da ex­pe­ri­enced the hor­rif­ic geno­cide of 1994, leav­ing the na­tion frac­tured and dev­as­tat­ed. Pover­ty and po­lit­i­cal in­sta­bil­i­ty lin­gered for years. Vi­sion­ary lead­er­ship un­der Paul Kagame and strate­gic in­vest­ments in sports helped re­build na­tion­al iden­ti­ty. Foot­ball and bas­ket­ball leagues be­came plat­forms for com­mu­ni­ty heal­ing and uni­ty. Rwan­da has now be­come a hub for in­ter­na­tion­al events, in­clud­ing host­ing Ar­se­nal’s spon­sor­ship, which brought glob­al at­ten­tion to the na­tion.

Like Rwan­da, T&T needs vi­sion­ary lead­er­ship that in­te­grates sport in­to the na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment plan. By po­si­tion­ing foot­ball and oth­er sports as a uni­fy­ing force, T&T can re­build so­cial trust and im­prove its glob­al im­age.

 Nar­ra­tives of Hope: High­light suc­cess sto­ries of play­ers from strug­gling com­mu­ni­ties to in­spire the next gen­er­a­tion. Uni­fied Vi­sion: Just as Man­dela and Kagame used sports for na­tion­al heal­ing, T&T’s lead­er­ship must po­si­tion foot­ball and sport as a tool for unit­ing the na­tion. With prop­er plan­ning, hon­esty, and prop­er ex­e­cu­tion, foot­ball can serve as the cor­ner­stone of T&T’s trans­for­ma­tion, fos­ter­ing a sense of uni­ty, hope, and progress akin to these glob­al ex­am­ples.

Trinidad and To­ba­go stands at a piv­otal mo­ment in its his­to­ry. The year 2025 brings a con­ver­gence of op­por­tu­ni­ties: the chance to qual­i­fy for the FI­FA Men’s World Cup for the first time since 2006, Un­der-17 World Cup qual­i­fy­ing cam­paigns for both men and women, as well as po­ten­tial strides in crick­et and ath­let­ics.

These op­por­tu­ni­ties, how­ev­er, must not be treat­ed as short-term po­lit­i­cal mile­stones but as foun­da­tion­al mo­ments to fos­ter a last­ing lega­cy of na­tion­al pride, uni­ty, and progress. Of course many will look at these ex­am­ples as far­fetched, some even pre­fer­ring to say that we are dream­ing be­yond our reach and should set­tle for lim­it­ed op­por­tu­ni­ties with less­er ca­pac­i­ty.

In a na­tion grap­pling with crime, so­cio-eco­nom­ic dis­par­i­ties, and com­mu­ni­ty frag­men­ta­tion, sports pro­vide a rare and po­tent uni­fy­ing force. Foot­ball, crick­et, and ath­let­ics have the pow­er to:

Bridge Di­vides: Sports tran­scend racial, so­cial, and eco­nom­ic bar­ri­ers, fos­ter­ing a sense of shared iden­ti­ty and pride.

In­spire Hope: Suc­cess­ful cam­paigns can mo­ti­vate youth, shift­ing their fo­cus from neg­a­tive in­flu­ences to am­bi­tion and achieve­ment.

Pro­mote Com­mu­ni­ty Re­silience: Sport­ing events gal­vanise com­mu­ni­ties, draw­ing peo­ple to­geth­er in sup­port of a com­mon cause. The op­por­tu­ni­ty to qual­i­fy for the 2026 FI­FA Men’s World Cup and the Un­der-17/20 Men’s and Women’s World Cups is a turn­ing point:

Na­tion­al Uni­ty: Use foot­ball to cre­ate a groundswell of pride, unit­ing com­mu­ni­ties un­der the na­tion­al flag. Di­as­po­ra En­gage­ment: Har­ness the sup­port of the di­as­po­ra, both as fans and as a source of tal­ent­ed play­ers el­i­gi­ble to rep­re­sent T&T.

Crick­et has long been a source of pride for Trinidad and To­ba­go, pro­duc­ing leg­ends like Learie Con­sta­tine, Bri­an Lara, Lar­ry Gomes, and Rangy Nanan just to name a few. It re­mains a sport with deep cul­tur­al roots and un­tapped po­ten­tial:

Grass­roots Ex­pan­sion: Re­vi­talise crick­et in un­der­priv­i­leged ar­eas, us­ing pro­grams sim­i­lar to South Africa’s town­ship crick­et ini­tia­tives. Youth De­vel­op­ment: Es­tab­lish re­gion­al acad­e­mies and en­sure school crick­et thrives, serv­ing as a pipeline for the na­tion­al team. Glob­al En­gage­ment: Po­si­tion T&T as a host for more in­ter­na­tion­al crick­et tour­na­ments, bring­ing glob­al at­ten­tion and eco­nom­ic ben­e­fits.

In­fra­struc­ture: In­vest in grass­roots pro­grammes, prop­er­ly equipped and cer­ti­fied sport­ing acad­e­mies, and train­ing fa­cil­i­ties to en­sure sus­tained growth. Coach­ing Stan­dards: Fo­cus on de­vel­op­ing top-lev­el coach­es to align lo­cal foot­ball with in­ter­na­tion­al best prac­tices. Com­mer­cial­i­sa­tion: Part­ner with lo­cal busi­ness­es to cre­ate a self-sus­tain­ing foot­ball ecosys­tem, re­duc­ing re­liance on gov­ern­ment fund­ing.

The suc­cess of these sport­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties must not be treat­ed as tem­po­rary vic­to­ries for po­lit­i­cal agen­das. In­stead, T&T must com­mit to: Vi­sion­ary Lead­er­ship: De­vel­op a na­tion­al sports strat­e­gy that tran­scends po­lit­i­cal cy­cles, with clear, mea­sur­able goals for each sport.

In­sti­tu­tion­al Strength: Strength­en gov­ern­ing bod­ies to op­er­ate trans­par­ent­ly and pro­fes­sion­al­ly, free from po­lit­i­cal in­ter­fer­ence.

Pub­lic-Pri­vate Part­ner­ships: Col­lab­o­rate with busi­ness­es to fund long-term ini­tia­tives, en­sur­ing sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment with­out over­re­liance on gov­ern­ment bud­gets.

Lega­cy Projects: Fo­cus on build­ing in­fra­struc­ture, ed­u­ca­tion­al pro­grams, and ath­lete sup­port sys­tems that will ben­e­fit fu­ture gen­er­a­tions.

Trinidad and To­ba­go, I again stress, has a unique op­por­tu­ni­ty to trans­form its sport­ing land­scape and na­tion­al psy­che in 2025. By fo­cus­ing on foot­ball, crick­et, and ath­let­ics as tools for de­vel­op­ment rather than fleet­ing po­lit­i­cal achieve­ments, the na­tion can build a foun­da­tion for long-term suc­cess and uni­ty.

This re­quires: Col­lab­o­ra­tion: En­gag­ing all stake­hold­ers, from gov­ern­ment to pri­vate sec­tor to com­mu­ni­ties. Com­mit­ment: En­sur­ing ini­tia­tives are sus­tained, not aban­doned af­ter elec­tion cy­cles or ma­jor tour­na­ments. Vi­sion: Be­liev­ing in the trans­for­ma­tive pow­er of sports to lift a na­tion out of its strug­gles and on­to the glob­al stage.

With strate­gic plan­ning and un­wa­ver­ing fo­cus, T&T can not on­ly qual­i­fy for World Cups but al­so ig­nite a move­ment of hope and progress that lasts far be­yond 2025.

Ed­i­tor’s Note

Shaun Fuentes is the head of TTFA Me­dia and mar­ket­ing. He was a FI­FA me­dia of­fi­cer at the 2010 FI­FA World Cup in South Africa and the 2013 FI­FA U-20 World Cup in Turkey. He has trav­elled to 88 coun­tries dur­ing his jour­ney in sport. The views ex­pressed are sole­ly his and not a rep­re­sen­ta­tion of any or­gan­i­sa­tion. shaunfuentes@ya­hoo.com