Elite Cup expands, hones in on player development

Eric Rademakers, organiser of the KFC Elite Cup, says participating clubs and academies will face greater demands to improve their youth programmes when the competition expands for the 2027 season.

The Elite Cup, which started in 2025, will grow from a single Under-18 league to three competitions next season, with two tiers at the U18 level and the addition of a U15 division.

A major feature of the expansion will be the introduction of promotion and relegation between the two U18 tiers. The U18 Elite Cup will serve as the top division, while the U18 Championship will operate as the second tier.

Rademakers said participation in the competition will be based on more than results alone.

With youth development remaining one of the tournament’s key objectives, he said teams will be expected to demonstrate consistent investment in player development.

“The idea has always been that we create a league that is so attractive that everybody wants to join. We can now improve the standard of youth football by saying ‘you have to do this or you cannot enter’,” he said.

Among the requirements for participation are , teams must train at least three times per week and provide information about their coaching staff and training facilities.

Rademakers said organisers will assess coaches based on their experience and quality rather than simply their coaching licences, while also evaluating the facilities being used.

“We want them to tell us their coaching staff, and that’s where we do research. Who are those coaches? How do they play? What type of football do they play?” he explained.

“The facilities as well, what facility do you use for your training? We want to see all of that.”

QUALITY COMPETITION

Rademakers said the objective is to ensure players are consistently exposed to quality training and competitive matches, rather than programmes that assemble their strongest teams only for tournaments.

He said a team that regularly trains and competes can still be viewed favourably, even without an outstanding win-loss record.

“If you have an academy that plays a lot of matches, then, even though you might have lost half of those games, I am now more willing to accept them because they have been putting in work to develop players,” he said.

“If you are a team that maybe wins KSAFA [competitions] but the only thing you do is, when it’s competition time, you just gather up the best players and then play your competition, I do not want you in this competition,” Rademakers said.

Another major requirement will be FIFA Connect registration, with every player in the Elite Cup expected to be registered through a FIFA-affiliated club.

Rademakers said the requirement will improve transparency regarding player movement while helping Jamaican clubs benefit from FIFA’s training compensation system when players turn professional.

“We would love every player in Jamaica to be registered with FIFA Connect,” he said.

“So, when an overseas club buys a Jamaican player, the club in Jamaica that has contributed to the development between the age of 12 and 18 will get compensated for that.”

gregory.bryce@gleanerjm.com