Angus Eve back in the mix, hired as Trinidad and Tobago women's football coach

FORMER TT men’s football team coach Angus Eve has now been appointed as the coach of TT’s women’s team, weeks away from the start of the 2025/26 Concacaf W Qualifiers – the qualifying competition for the 2026 Concacaf W Championship and the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup.

Eve’s appointment was confirmed by the TT Football Association (TTFA) on September 30. Contacted for comment on the appointment, Eve said questions should be directed to the TTFA.
Eve will be joined in the coaching staff by another former national player in Densill Theobald, who will serve as one of the assistant coaches. Theobald, who’s also the head coach of the men’s national under-15 team, led Defence Force to the TT Premier Football League double in the 2024/25 season on the back of an unbeaten campaign. He surprisingly resigned from the Defence Force post in July.

A TTFA release said the remainder of the coaching staff will be revealed in due course. The release said the team’s preparations will include a pair of friendlies against Jamaica during the Fifa women’s international window in October.

Not only does this mark a return for Eve to the national setup, but this season, he also returned to the helm of Naparima College with some vigour in the 2025 Secondary Schools Football League season, leading them to four wins in their first four games in the premier division.

It’s a return to national coaching duty for Eve after the TTFA decided his services as head coach of the men’s team were no longer required in July last year. The former national standout midfielder was first appointed on an interim basis as the men’s national team coach prior to the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup prelims.

In the first game of the 2021 Gold Cup, Eve’s charges pulled off a hard-fought goalless draw with Concacaf giants Mexico. And although TT got two points in group play and were knocked out at the group phase of that Gold Cup, Eve was subsequently hired on a permanent basis by the Fifa-appointed Normalisation Committee, which handled the TTFA’s affairs at the time.

In August 2023, Eve’s tenure as the men’s team head coach was extended from September 2023 to March 2024, with another extension coming at the start of 2024. The latter extension was expected to span the duration of the TT men’s team’s Fifa 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.

However, on July 31, 2024, the TTFA announced it was parting ways with Eve after the men’s team got four points from their first two matches in the second round of World Cup qualifying. Dwight Yorke was subsequently hired as the coach of the men’s team on November 1, 2024.

Having coached Club Sando to the TT Women’s League Football (WoLF) title in July, Eve and his staff must now get down to work in short order as the Concacaf W Qualifiers are scheduled to commence in November with TT playing their first game away to Barbados. Along with Barbados, TT are placed in group F with El Salvador and Honduras.

TT’s second game will be away to El Salvador in March 2026, with their last group match being a home clash with Honduras in April 2026. At the conclusion of the Concacaf W Qualifiers group stage, the six group winners will advance to join the top-seeded teams US and Canada for the Concacaf W Championship, which will be played in November 2026 via an eight-team knockout format.

At the Concacaf W Championship, the four quarterfinal winners will book their spots in the 2027 World Cup, while the four losing quarterfinalists will contest a pair of play-in matches, which will see the two winning teams battling for a spot in an intercontinental playoff.

The TT women’s team programme has been dormant for an extended period after the contract expiration of former coach Richard Hood at the end of June 2024. In July 2025, TTFA president Kieron Edwards said Hood, Ross Russell and veteran Serbian coach Zoran Vranes were among 20-plus candidates vying for the post of TT’s women’s team coach.

The TTFA president said he and his board want to do much more for the women’s game and he’s pleased with Eve’s hiring.

“We believe Angus brings the right blend of experience, leadership and passion to guide our women’s national team into this important new chapter,” Edwards said, via the release. “His deep understanding of the game in TT (gives) us confidence that he can inspire and elevate our women’s football to the next level.”

Edwards said there will be more emphasis on development at all levels and stressed the TTFA’s commitment to ensuring the exposure of home-based talent, married with the goal of expanding the talent pool with overseas-based players as well.

“We will also be introducing a modern approach, assembling an experienced technical staff and creating the right conditions for growth.”

The release said further details on the TT women’s squad, match venues and other TTFA initiatives will be revealed to the public in the coming weeks.