A new-look Trinidad and Tobago football Association (TTFA) administration is on the horizon, as a collective decision was taken to support FIFA’s recommendation to host the Elective Congress on Saturday April 13, 2024.

It was revealed in a TTFA releases which stated that the decision will be facilitated by a short extension of the Normalisation Committee’s mandate and will result in the following timeline, which is viewed as respectful to all parties concerned, as well as to ensure that the process is fair, complete, and final.

As such, the TTFA Normalisation Committee will issue the notice for the Extraordinary Congress on or before Tuesday February 13, after which, candidates for any of the Executive Committee positions must be submitted to the General Secretariat by Wednesday February 28.

From there, the General Secretariat must circulate an official list of candidates to all TTFA members by Wednesday April 3, with the Extraordinary Congress for the Election of the Executive Committee to be convened 10 days later on April 13.

This follows last Sunday’s Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the TTFA at which 33 of the 47 members present, unanimously agreed to accept the amendments of the constitution, and also invoked the right of the FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee being led by businessman Robert Hadad, to call fresh elections and conclude their mandate to manage the local sporting discipline as handed down by FIFA, in March 2020.

Meanwhile, at least three persons are eagerly awaiting the election now that approval of the constitution is completed.

However, the members are concerned by one of the new amendments that would only allow people contesting the election to be part of a slate. Also, members can only vote for a slate and not for an office position as was in the past. The slate with the most votes will manage the sport for a four-year term.

It was one of many proposed amendments to the constitution that, though objected to, was still included by Concacaf and FIFA. 

Still, the majority of the members voted in favour of considering a promise that changes to the constitution could be made within only a few months of having a new administration.

Another major change of concern to the members was the increased number of votes— (two votes each)—given to T&T Premier League (TTPFL) clubs - Tier I (12 clubs) and Tier II (six clubs) which makes it 36 from a total of 57 votes.

Hadad, who led the normalisation committee, achieved most of its mandate, including clearing a massive debt and ensuring that football was operational. But he now has to make way for a new TTFA president.

It is reported that Selby Browne, the president of the Veterans Football Foundation of T&T, Keiron Edwards, president of the Eastern Football Association, and Dennis Latiff, the new Southern Football Association president, have all expressed an interest in taking the reins.

But before any candidate can be considered, each has to meet the criteria of another constitutional change. A nominee must be involved in the sport for the past eight years if he or she wants to contest the election to serve on the executive.

They also have to meet the criteria of holding a managerial position for two of the last four years to be eligible for election.