Reigning 2022 World Bikini Fitness Vice Champion Ambassador Kimberly Percival, from Antigua and Barbuda, delivers a motivational message to the referees during Wednesday’s day two of the 2023 CFU Girls’ U14 Challenge Series Referee Development. (CFU)

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua (August 16, 2023)—Teams have begun arriving in Antigua for the 2023 CFU Girls’ U14 Challenge Series scheduled for August 18-27, 2023.

Twenty teams will participate in the developmental competition. They are Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Aruba; Barbados; Bermuda; Bonaire; Cayman Islands; Curacao; Dominica; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Jamaica; Martinique; Puerto Rico; St. Lucia; St. Kitts and Nevis; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Trinidad and Tobago; Turks and Caicos Islands; and US Virgin Islands.

Matches will be played at the ABFA Technical Center at Paynters, St. George, Antigua.

The teams are divided into Tier I and Tier II.

Tier I
Group A
Anguilla
Dominica
St Vincent and the Grenadines
US Virgin Islands
Grenada

Group B
Bermuda
Antigua and Barbuda
Barbados
Bonaire

Group C
Curacao
Guadeloupe
St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Lucia
Martinique

Tier I
Group A
Puerto Rico
Jamaica
Trinidad and Tobago

Group B
Aruba
Turks and Caicos Islands
Cayman Islands

Meanwhile, developmental aspects of the competition got under way Monday with a referee developmental training. Forty match officials, four instructors and eight assessors are assigned to the tournament.

During a motivational session on Wednesday, reigning 2022 World Bikini Fitness Vice Champion and the first Caribbean athlete male or female to win an Elite Pro World Championship Title Ambassador Kimberly Percival told the young referees that the first step to success is having the willpower to try.

Instituted in 2018, the CFU U-14 Challenge Series is a holistic developmental competition that caters to boys and girls in alternating years. 

The Challenge Series is the introduction to international competition and exposure for players. It hues to CFU’s developmental agenda and FIFA’s focus on further developing grassroots football in the region.

The Challenge Series is also a pivotal component of the CFU’s Next Generation Referee Course. It affords regional match officials who possess the requisite skills to advance to the FIFA International Refereeing Lists technical and practical training. 

This year’s competition will have an all-female refereeing team.