Sports
Jonathan Ramnanansingh
After six years of delays, the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) girls’ premiership is finally set to kick off in 2026, much to the relief of league president Merere Gonzales.
The competition was initially set to begin in 2020 but was postponed owing to the pandemic and, later, financial constraints.
TT Football Association (TTFA) president Kieron Edwards confirmed in his end-of-year address, that the girls’ premiership will officially be launched in the new season, with full TTFA sponsorship.
The SSFL, at the league’s launch in September 2025, had assured that the girls’ premiership would begin its debut season in 2025, but Gonzales said “due to some logistical constraints and hiccups, we weren’t able to accommodate or facilitate it.”
During his address, Edwards said this new division will play an immense role in women’s development locally.
Gonzales praised Edwards in facilitating the premiership’s debut and echoed his sentiment, saying the league will, initially, draw the best schools from across the five SSFL zones to ensure a competitive inaugural season.
“If not two (schools) from each zone, at least one from each so we’ll have a start,” Gonzales told Newsday on January 1. “With that, we can embark on either having a promotion and demotion based on the number of schools that would have started the premiership’s first season.”
The new league is expected to raise the standard of girls’ football nationally while expanding the pool of players available for national team selection, ahead of regional and international tournaments.
Gonzales believes this will be achieved over time, as the premiership grows into a more attractive, high-intensity tournament. The intention is to encourage those teams in the championship (second division) to train and play harder to break into the top flight.
Potentially, after the first season, top rankers in the championship could be promoted to the premiership, which opens up space in the second division for other schools to fill those gaps, and ultimately, widen the pool of female footballers.
The intention, however, is to organise and prepare a structure to ensure a seamless launch and long-term sustainability, he said.
“Fifa has strongly advocated for more female football. And they will not be left behind in any way. While we understand the prominence of men’s football, equally, the females need to be recognised.”
Gonzales also spoke on efforts to strengthen youth pathways for girls to progress to senior levels.
Barring the premiership and championship, he said, the only other SSFL girls competitive age groups are the U15 division and the form one (U13) division. Gonzales confirmed his executive wants to have the latter “a lot more established across all the zones” to work in alignment with their goal of bolstering TT’s girls/women’s pool of players.
He is confident the SSFL girls premiership will leave a lasting mark on the nation’s football landscape with the long-awaited unveil this year.
“In everything, there’s always a starting point.”
