CONCACAF revealed details of an expansion to its int'l club competition structure with the addition of a new tournament, accompanied by a new format for the CONCACAF Champions League. The expanded CONCACAF club competitions platform will feature 31 club teams -- increased from 24 -- beginning with the '17-18 season. Sixteen clubs from countries around the region, will compete in a concentrated CONCACAF Champions League to be disputed between February and May of each year. Additionally, starting in August, 16 clubs from Central America and the Caribbean will participate in a new tournament, which will conclude in October. The expanded platform aims to increase the competitiveness and relevance of all matches by seeding participating teams into two separate tournaments, each of which will crown an annual champion (CONCACAF).
CARIBBEAN SPLIT?: INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL's Paul Nicholson reported FIFA "could be facing the request for the formation of a seventh confederation" after an exec committee meeting of the Caribbean Football Union in Antigua "at the weekend agreed to explore the prospects for a breakaway of the 31 Caribbean nations from the 41-member CONCACAF confederation." If a vote were to be taken, "it is likely that the Caribbean federations would vote to split from CONCACAF by as many as 24 votes to seven, such is the strength of the anger in the Caribbean region at being marginalised via a divide and conquer strategy" devised in the U.S. and led by CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani. There is "no doubt that the Caribbean has been increasingly marginalised by a politically aggressive CONCACAF" that has removed its access to funding at all levels from development to competitions to grants for its administrative offices (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 1/23).
