The pan-regional tournament provides access to football for over 2,000 boys and girls across the Caribbean

Miami (Wednesday, October 31, 2018) – The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) and Scotiabank today announced the Scotiabank NextPlay Cup, a new invitational youth tournament that will be held from November 10 – December 8, across the four territories of Concacaf Member Associations, including the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

The announcement of the tournament, which featured football officials, Scotiabank executives and government representatives, took place at the Spanish Court Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica. Also in attendance were Concacaf Director of Development, Jason Roberts and Concacaf Player Ambassador Richard “Bibi” Gardner, former Jamaica international.

This pan-regional Scotiabank competition, held in collaboration with each of the participating Member Associations, is a new pillar of Concacaf NextPlay, a comprehensive grassroots development program that promotes access to football within the region, while leveraging the power of the game to drive social change.

“We are very excited to partner with Scotiabank to host the Scotiabank NextPlay Cup as we continue delivering on a core principle of Concacaf — providing access to play the game, in meaningful and sustainable ways,” said Concacaf President, Victor Montagliani. “The competition has been designed to provide boys and girls with an opportunity to learn and practice football skills, while fostering a wide range of social values including hard work, fair play, teamwork and respect.”

“At Scotiabank, we share the passion for football with our employees, customers, and the communities we serve, so we are happy to be providing opportunities for children to play football. We are confident that this will be an experience that will allow participating schools and students to develop their football skills while encouraging teamwork, leadership, and healthy competition,” said the SVP & Head of the Caribbean North and Central, and President of Scotiabank Jamaica, David Noel.

Over 2,000 boys and girls ages 10-11 will participate in the tournament, that will feature a total of 224 schools, including 56 school teams from each of the participating Member Associations.

The teams of 10 players, who will compete in a 7v7 format, will be divided between urban and rural regions, each further subdivided into four groups of six teams.

Participating Concacaf Member Associations have sanctioned the Scotiabank NextPlay Cup, recognizing it as a top-class youth football competition. The primary partners of the tournament are the local Ministers of Education, which have approved the schools’ participation with the aim of creating a unified competition that promotes the practice of sports and transcends national, cultural, and socioeconomic barriers.

About Concacaf
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) is the governing body for football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, and one of the six continental confederations that comprise FIFA. Concacaf is composed of 41 Member Associations, including nations and territories from Canada in the north, south through Central America and across the Caribbean to Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana on the South American continent. Concacaf provides manages a network of unified competitions and development activities to unite this diverse region in football, with the goals of actively promoting universal access to our sport, and raising the quality of football across the Confederation.

About Scotiabank
Scotiabank is Canada’s international bank and a leading financial services provider in the Americas. We are dedicated to helping our 25 million customers become better off through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of more than 96,000 employees and assets of $947 billion (as at July 31, 2018), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @Scotiabank.