THE next president of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association will be either TT Premier Football League CEO Colin Wharfe or Eastern Football Association president Kieron Edwards.
This was confirmed on Thursday as both administrators were the only presidential candidates to present slates to the normalisation committee, before Wednesday’s midnight deadline.
Wharfe confirmed his candidacy on deadline day and made public his fellow candidatures on Thursday. The TTFA elections will be held on April 13.
Joining him in the race for the vacant executive positions are TT Defence Force Colonel Keston Charles (first vice-president), Renee John-Williams (second vice-president), Huey Cadette (third vice-president), Colm De Freitas, Richard Mason, Lee Davis, Riaz Ali and Makan Hislop (all ordinary members).
John-Williams is the daughter of late former TTFA president David John-Williams and a W Connection director, who took a one-year sabbatical from the ongoing 2023/24 season. Cadette is a TT Super League (TTSL) and Tobago Football Association board member and manager of TTPFL tier one club 1976 FC Phoenix.
Additionally, Davis is TTSL president and tier one Prison Service manager while Mason is on the TTPFL executive committee. Hislop is a former TT footballer and De Freitas heads City FC (formerly QPCC Football Academy).
Wharfe’s announcement said that leading up to his candidacy, he held “intense discussions, with the objective of bringing together a quality team to run the affairs of TT football.”
It read, “This team has been diligently put together to cover the key areas necessary to achieve what we all desire, that is, progress for football.”
On Tuesday, Edwards confirmed a nine-member slate, entitled Team Progressive, to contest the elections.
Edwards will be gunning for the presidential post alongside Colin Murray (first vice-president), TT Football Referees Association (TTFRA) president Osmond Downer (second vice-president) and former TTSL president Jameson Rigues (third vice-president).
Alicia Austin, Andrew Boodhoo, Allan Logan, Ryan Nunes and Shelton Williams will complete Edwards’ slate as ordinary members.
Before the deadline, Southern Football Association (SFA) president Denis Latiff and Veterans Football Foundation of TT (VFFoTT) president Selby Browne pulled out of the presidential race.
The normalisation committee, in its capacity as the electoral committee, will appoint independent people to oversee the election process.
In accordance with the new TTFA statutes, the 12 TTPFL tier one clubs that contested in its inaugural season, along with last season’s top six TTPFL tier two clubs – excluding Police FC – will all be afforded two votes in the elections.
Each of the six regional associations and the TT Women’s League Football also have two votes.
The remaining associations such as beach soccer, coaches, futsal, referees, Primary Schools Football League, Secondary Schools Football League and the VFFoTT all have one vote each.
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