Trinidad and Tobago Football Association elections set for April 13

The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) will elect a new president and accompanying slate to oversee the affairs of TT's football on April 13, 2024 via an extraordinary congress.

TTFA general secretary Amiel Mohammed confirmed the election date via a press release on Tuesday.

The release said, "The normalisation committee of the TTFA has officially convened an extraordinary congress to be held on Saturday April 13, 2024 where the elections of the new TTFA executive committee shall take place."

Candidates vying for the nine executive committee positions must officially submit their names to the TTFA general secretariat on or before February 28 via "recorded post, email with delivery notification, or delivered by hand" in accordance with Article 8 par. 2 of the TTFA electoral code. The general secretariat must then circulate the official list of candidates to the TTFA membership by April 3.

With the election date now set for April 13, the TTFA's normalisation committee, who were set to demit office on March 31, effectively received another extension to fulfill the mandate given to them by Fifa with the new extension being pushed to April 30 at the latest.

On Monday, a letter from Fifa general secretary ad interim Mattias Grafstrom to normalisation committee chairman Robert Hadad said the extension was necessary in this instance to facilitate the staging of the election in two months' time.

"In view of the specific timeframe established in the new TTFA Statutes, requiring a minimum of 60 days for the normalisation committee to convene an 8elective congress and for candidates to submit their candidatures to the general secretariat of the TTFA, the elections for a new TTFA executive committee will statutorily not be able to take place before the end of the normalisation committee's mandate (i.e. before March 31, 2024).

"In order to allow the normalisation committee to fulfill the final tasks of its mandate (i.e. organise and conduct elections of a new TTFA executive committee for a four-year mandate), the (Fifa) Bureau decided on February 12 to extend the mandate of the normalisation committee until April 30 at the latest."

The trio of Selby Browne, Veterans Football Foundation of TT (VFFoTT) president, Kieron Edwards, Eastern Football Association president and Dennis Latiff, Southern Football Association president, have all indicated their desire to run for the post of TTFA president, with Browne also saying his nine-member slate for the election has already been formed.

However, Mohammed told Newsday, "Technically, I have received no formal communication from anybody (regarding the TTFA presidency)."

Mohammed said the normalisation committee, in its capacity as the electoral committee, will appoint independent people to oversee the election process. He said the names have already been proposed to the TTFA membership.

As agreed to in the new TTFA statutes which were established in an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on January 28, the 12 TT Premier Football League (TTPFL) tier one clubs which contested in its inaugural season, along with last season's top six TTPFL tier two clubs – bar Police FC – will all be afforded two votes in the elections. Each of the six regional associations and the TT Women's League Football also have two votes.

The remaining associations such as beach soccer, coaches, futsal, referees, Primary Schools Football League, Secondary Schools Football League and the VFFoTT all have one vote each.

In March 2020, the Bureau of the FIFA Council removed the then William Wallace-led TTFA executive and appointed a normalisation committee after they found extremely low overall financial management methods, combined with massive debt and a very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity.