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Governing body for association football in the Caribbean

The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) is the representative organization for football associations in the Caribbean. It represents 25 FIFA member nations, as well as 6 territories that are not affiliated with FIFA. The Union was established in January 1978 and its member associations compete in the CONCACAF region. The CFU also runs developmental competitions, including the CONCACAF Caribbean Shield and youth challenge series.

The formation of the Caribbean Football Union is credited to former Trinidad and Tobago national footballer Patrick Raymond. In 1976, he approached Phil Woosnam, the Commissioner of the North American Soccer League (NASL), about ownership of a Caribbean franchise within the NASL, and instead, Woosnam proposed the formation of a Caribbean Professional League. Acting on Woosnam's advice, and with assistance from former England player turned businessman Jimmy Hill and his company World Sports Academy, plus the recommendation of former FIFA President Sir Stanley Rous, that a Caribbean regional governing body as a sub group within CONCACAF be the first order of business, Raymond introduced the initiative in August 1977 in Port of Spain, Trinidad, that eventually led to the formation of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). The CFU was inaugurated on January 28, 1978, in Port au Prince, Haiti, as the Caribbean region's governing football body and a sub group within CONCACAF. A previous effort to establish a Caribbean regional governing body was the British Caribbean Football Association (BCFA) in January 1957, with the Trinidad & Tobago FA's President Ken Galt as the BCFA's president, and the TTFA's Secretary Eric James as General Secretary, and in 1959, a representative BCFA team toured the UK. In May 2013, under the direction of Damien E. Hughes, the CFU relocated their offices from Port of Spain, Trinidad to Kingston, Jamaica. In August 2015, Hughes was replaced by Antiguan Neil Cochrane. Cochrane announced that several jobs would be moved from Jamaica to Antigua and a smaller headquarters would be rented.

The union was embroiled in a scandal in May 2011 after several representatives of Caribbean Football Associations had been given brown paper envelopes containing US$40,000. The incident was reported to the CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer. The next day, footage from a private meeting between CFU officials was leaked to the public. This footage showed President Jack Warner informing the delegates who had received envelopes that the funds within were for their personal use, stating,"If you're pious, you should go to church." An investigation initiated by FIFA examined the actions of over 30 CFU representatives and resulted in the resignation of the CFU president, the suspension of the organization's vice presidents and staff, and the resignation of several national football association staff.

The CFU Championship was a tournament for national teams in the region active between 1978 and 1988. It was sometimes referred to as the CFU Nations Cup. The Caribbean Cup was the international cup for the Caribbean between 1989 and 2017; the top 4 teams in the tournament used to qualify for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The Caribbean Club Championship was the championship for Caribbean club teams. The winner qualified for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup from 1997 and until 2008, and from 2008–09 until 2016–17, the top 3 clubs qualified for a preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League. Since 2017, the winner of the rebranded Caribbean Club Championship qualified for the knockout stage of the CONCACAF Champions League. The CONCACAF Caribbean Cup is the latest announced regional competition. Previously the CFU had organised a pan Caribbean league, the Caribbean Professional Football League; it was active between 1992 and 1994.

Nation Association National team Year joined the CFU FIFA status Island group Geographical region Anguilla Football Association Anguilla 1996 Member Leeward Islands Antigua and Barbuda Football Association Antigua and Barbuda 1978 Member Leeward Islands Arubaanse Voetbal Bond Aruba 1988 Member Leeward Antilles Bahamas Football Association Bahamas 1978 Member Lucayan Archipelago Barbados Football Association Barbados 1978 Member Windward Islands Bermuda Football Association Bermuda 1978 Member North America Bonaire Football Federation Bonaire 2013 Non member Leeward Antilles British Virgin Islands Football Association British Virgin Islands 1996 Member Leeward Islands Cayman Islands Football Association Cayman Islands 1992 Member Greater Antilles Asociación de Fútbol de Cuba Cuba 1978 Member Greater Antilles Curaçao Football Federation Curaçao 1978 Member Leeward Antilles Dominica Football Association Dominica 1994 Member Windward Islands Dominican Football Federation Dominican Republic 1978 Member Greater Antilles Ligue de football de la Guyane French Guiana 1978 Non member South America Grenada Football Association Grenada 1978 Member Windward Islands Ligue Guadeloupéenne de Football Guadeloupe 1978 Non member Leeward Islands Guyana Football Federation Guyana 1978 Member South America Haitian Football Federation Haiti 1978 Member Greater Antilles Jamaica Football Federation Jamaica 1978 Member Greater Antilles Ligue de football de la Martinique Martinique 1978 Non member Windward Islands Montserrat Football Association Montserrat 1996 Member Leeward Islands Puerto Rican Football Federation Puerto Rico 1978 Member Greater Antilles Saint Kitts and Nevis Football Association Saint Kitts and Nevis 1992 Member Leeward Islands Saint Lucia Football Association Saint Lucia 1988 Member Windward Islands Comité de Football des Îles du Nord Saint Martin Non member Leeward Islands Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1988 Member Windward Islands Sint Maarten Soccer Association Sint Maarten Non member Leeward Islands Surinaamse Voetbal Bond Suriname 1978 Member South America Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation Trinidad and Tobago 1978 Member Windward Islands Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association Turks and Caicos Islands 1998 Member Lucayan Archipelago U. S. Virgin Islands Soccer Federation United States Virgin Islands 1998 Member Leeward Islands

Saint Barthélemy became an overseas collectivity of France in February 2007, the same political status as Saint Martin. Following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010, the public bodies of Saba and Sint Eustatius could become eligible to compete as separate entities within the Caribbean Football Union. Bonaire, which also has this political status, became a CFU member (and CONCACAF associate member) in April 2013. (Bonaire became a full member of CONCACAF in June 2014.) Each of these areas is an integral part of the Netherlands. The islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon are in the North American region, like Bermuda (a CFU member), but are currently not affiliated with either FIFA or CONCACAF. However, the French overseas collectivity has the same political status as French Polynesia, who play in the Oceania Football Confederation as Tahiti. The islands competed as Saint Pierre at the 2010 and 2012 Coupes de l'Outre Mer. As such, it would appear that Saint Pierre is not precluded from joining CONCACAF and potentially, like Bermuda, the Caribbean Football Union.