CFU Club Champs set to kick off

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

A NEW-look Caribbean Foot-ball Union (CFU) Club Championship, featuring recent title-winners San Juan Jabloteh, Harbour View and Portmore United, kicks off this weekend.

The near two-week tournament, to be played across several venues in Trinidad and Tobago, starts on Sunday with 19 teams participating.

This is the first time since 1998 that the CFU Club tournament is being held in a single country. Five groups will contest the first phase in a round-robin format from November 4-8 and the group winners, along with the best three second-place teams, will advance to the quarter-finals on November 11.

The semis are set for the Hasely Crawford Stadium on November 14 and the final two days later on November 16.

Reigning champions W Connection have opted out of the tournament, but other ex-champions San Juan Jabloteh, of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica's Portmore United and Harbour View will be among the contenders.

San Juan Jabloteh, the 2003 winners, will tackle SV Centro Social Deportivo Barber, of the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba's SV Deportivo Nacional and Positive Vibes SC, of the US Virgin Islands (USVI) in Group A.

Groups

Two-time regional champions, Joe Public, of Trinidad and Tobago, will contest Group B, alongside the USVI's Helenites, Sagicor South East United, of Dominica, and Aruba's SV RCA. Joe Public were champions in 1998 and 2000.

Group C has the 2004 CFU winners, Harbour View, Hitachi Centre Sap of Antigua and Barbuda, Suriname's Inter Moengotapoe and the Puerto Rico Islanders.

The 2005 champions, Portmore United, are in Group D with Newtown United FC, of St. Kitts and Nevis and Suriname's SV Leo Victor.

Group E comprises Haiti's Baltimore de St Marc, Bassa SC, of Antigua and Barbuda, Jong Colombia (Netherlands Antilles) and Pinar del Rio (Cuba).The CFU Club champions will progress to the 2008 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, consisting of eight teams, joining the defending champion Pachuca CF, another Mexican side, DC United, one more club from the U.S., along with three Central American clubs.