Senior Multimedia Reporter
walter.alibey@guardian.co.tt
Though the T&T Football Association awaits a new proposal from former sports commentator Selwyn Melville to solve the ongoing issue for the ‘Soca Warriors’ trademark, President Kieron Edwards is reminding the public not to be diverted from the focus, which is the qualification of the country for the 2026 World Cup.
At a meeting called last week between the parties—the T&TFA and Melville, in which David Nakhid, the Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, agreed to act as the mediator – Melville was asked to return with another offer that would appease both parties.
In the initial offer, the TTFA rejected Melville’s request for a five-year deal of US$750,000 a year for the entire period. At the same time, he holds on to the Soca Warriors trademark, and Melville also said no to the football association’s offer of between $1 million and $1.5 million to purchase the trademark.
In the meantime, the TTFA is close to announcing a shortlist of four names received from a massive rebranding process that was discussed last year and was started just over two weeks ago.
Edwards pointed to the business side of football, which would not only work in the football association’s favour to have its name but would also help them achieve parallel goals of setting a brighter future for the sport and ensuring that the FA is left in a financially stable position upon their exit as the executive.
“At the meeting, we would have told Melville that the offer we made almost a year ago – we’re not in that position right now – because you would have heard me, as the president, make a statement in terms of the cost of qualifying for the World Cup. I want T&T to understand that our priority is on the field and those guys qualifying for the World Cup and the team qualifying for the World Cup. I truly believe the name does not add to that,” Edwards said.
“We want to ensure that what we do on the field is important for the qualification of the team. The name is important in terms of building fans and engaging fans and bringing in revenue; that attachment to the men’s senior national team, which we know is important, but not qualifying is an issue.”
Edwards cemented his stance by saying, “The priority is qualifying for the World Cup, giving coach Dwight Yorke and his staff the best possibility and all the resources needed to qualify for World Cup 2026, and then the name is what we’re looking to rebrand. I think it’s an ideal time to rebrand as well. People would know that we were once named the Strike Squad, and then we moved on from the Strike Squad to the Soca Warriors, and now there’s a possibility, in the coming days, that this time, though, as a responsible FA and I as a responsible president of the TTFA, we would own the name; the TTFA would own the name; whatever name it is that we decide on as a nation, we would own that name, and it would be there for generations to come with the football association long after I and my executive have moved on from the positions that the TTFA would own that name.”
“We have to look at the business aspect of the FA. I would have come in on the backs of the Normalisation Committee, where the reason the normalisation committee was placed on the TTFA and T&T is because of the finances and the mismanagement of our finances. And one of the priorities of this executive is to make sure that we are financially stable as an FA. Whatever we engage in is financially viable to ensure that we set the FA up for the future,” Edwards explained.
The country’s national team is set to resume final-round qualification on September 5 against Curacao at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo. The game will be the first of six home-and-away matches in a four-team group that also comprises regional powerhouse Jamaica and Bermuda.
On September 9th, the T&T team will travel to Jamaica before they wait a month later to face the Bermudans on October 10 and Curacao away four days later (October 14). The Dwight Yorke-coached team will then complete the group with matches against Jamaica at home on November 13 and then Bermuda on November 18.
They need to top the group to earn automatic qualification or finish as one of the two best second-place finishers to progress to an inter-confederation play-off.
Under Melville, the battle for the rights to the Soca Warriors’ name began in 2005, and the official certificate was received in 2023. Edwards said the issue had been on their books when they assumed office, as part of a grand attempt to professionalise the sport.
“We looked and we campaigned around making football a business and professionalising football in all aspects, club level, national team level, as well as dealing with development for referees, youth teams and whatnot, and our youth programme. So, looking at the ecosystem of the TTFA, we saw a big flaw in how we market the TTFA and how we bring in revenue from marketing, which is a major part of any organisation, and when it comes to TV rights and naming rights and intellectual property, we realise that there was an issue with the name Soca Warriors; the TTFA did not own the name that the senior men’s national team goes by.”
“Just based on the business model, when you purchase that name from Mr Melville or whoever, you now have to put money into merchandising and put money into branding because,as much as we are known as the Soca Warriors, we have never done a merchandising campaign around the name Soca Warriors as it relates to the men’s senior national team.”
“So you would have to put funds into that, and at that cost, you’re looking at over $5 million a year in terms of just owning the name. And then you have to do marketing and awareness and brand placement and all these different things around the name in terms of the business aspect of it.”
