Barbados’ senior men’s national team has been placed in Group C for the Concacaf 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.
Concacaf, the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, conducted the draw on Thursday for the 30 nations competing for a coveted spot in the tournament, set to be hosted in Mexico, Canada, and the United States.
In Group C, Barbados has been drawn alongside Curacao, St. Lucia, Haiti, and Aruba.
During the 2018 qualifiers, Barbados advanced to the third round. However, the Barbados Football Association (BFA) faced sanctions due to the inclusion of an ineligible player, Hadan Holligan against Aruba.
The BFA’s penalty stemmed from Holligan’s failure to serve an automatic one-match suspension, a consequence of accumulating two cautions in separate matches.
As a result, the match was officially declared forfeited, awarding a 0-3 victory to Aruba.
Additionally, the BFA incurred a fine of CHF 6,000 (US $6919) following the FIFA Disciplinary Committee’s determination that the BFA had violated Article 55, Paragraph 1 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) and Article 8 of the Regulations for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia.
Group A comprises Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Cuba, and Honduras, while Group B features Bahamas, Costa Rica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Group D will witness clashes between Belize, Guyana, Montserrat, Nicaragua, and Panama. Meanwhile, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Jamaica will compete in Group E, with the winner of the matchup between the British Virgin Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands joining them.
Turks and Caicos Islands and Anguilla will vie for a chance to join Group F, where they would face off against El Salvador, Puerto Rico, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname.
Concacaf has outlined a schedule for each nation to play four matches between June 2024 and June 2025.
The top two teams from each group will advance, forming 12 teams that will be drawn into three groups of four. These countries will then play six games from September through November 2025, with the three group winners securing qualification.
The top two third-place teams will progress to intercontinental playoffs, involving one nation each from South America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
The four lowest-ranked teams will engage in single-elimination matches, with the winners advancing to face teams with byes in the next stage. Concacaf stated that the winners of these matchups will secure their place in the highly anticipated 2026 tournament. (RT)
