分类： sports

When the final whistle blew on the 2026 KFC U18 Elite Cup final, Eric Rademakers’ Kingston Football Academy (KFA) side had fallen to Portmore United, leaving the team without the top prize. But for Rademakers, who wears two hats as KFA head coach and lead organizer of the tournament, the result never told the full story. This annual competition was never built just to award silverware – it was designed to rewrite the future of youth football development across Jamaica.

Though disappointed by the final loss, Rademakers says his focus remains fixed on the bigger picture: the growth of the young players who took the pitch over the five-month competition. “We lost the final and we’re not happy with that, but I think that overall in the season and the football that the boys have shown is something that we are very happy about going forward,” he noted. “It’s all about the development of the boys.”

Now in its second iteration, the KFC U18 Elite Cup was created to fill a gaping hole in Jamaica’s local youth football ecosystem. For years, young domestic players have lacked access to consistent, elite-level competitive structure that matches the rigorous seasonal frameworks common in youth football programs overseas. The Elite Cup addresses this gap by stretching across five months, requiring players to compete every weekend – a rhythm that demands long-term commitment and consistent performance, far different from the compressed schedules that dominate Jamaica’s traditional schoolboy football circuit.

“They don’t get much of these experiences,” Rademakers explained. “A five-month competition where every Saturday you have to perform. It is a little more of a push and long-term commitment as opposed to just schoolboy football.”

From its inaugural year to the 2026 edition, the tournament has already seen steady growth, expanding the field of competitors from six teams to seven. This year’s participants include some of Jamaica’s top youth football programs: Harbour View FC, Waterhouse, Portmore United, Mount Pleasant Academy, Montego Bay, Ballaz Academy, and Rademakers’ own Kingston Football Academy.

For KFA, the tournament is far more than a standalone event. It is the centerpiece of a broader initiative to build structured, sustainable development pathways for young Jamaican players and fix systemic gaps in the country’s current youth football framework. Rademakers pointed to longstanding flaws in the existing schoolboy football system, arguing that its condensed format prioritizes short-term results over gradual, sustained player growth.

“It’s only the second round of football that gets interesting, so you have one month of match, two-day rest, match, two-day rest and that’s really not developing. That’s seeing who the best team is right now,” he said.

The tournament’s mission to uplift youth and strengthen communities has drawn support from key corporate partners, including Malta, a primary sponsor of KFA. For Malta, the investment in the KFC U18 Elite Cup extends far beyond sports sponsorship – it aligns with the brand’s core commitment to supporting Jamaican families and communities.

“The KFC U18 Elite Cup stands as a powerful platform for developing the next generation of football talent,” said Laurice Griffiths, Malta’s junior brand manager. “It challenges young footballers to sharpen their skills, strengthen their sportsmanship, and compete in a high-performance environment surrounded by coaches, organisers, and peers committed to building future champions.”

Griffiths added that the competition delivers unique value to young players by providing them with high-level exposure and formative competitive experiences that they cannot get through traditional local programming. “Malta is a family brand, and our aim has always been to support families and communities at different levels,” she explained. “Initiatives like the KFC U18 Elite Cup align perfectly with those values because sports play such an important role in bringing people together, creating opportunities for young people, and strengthening communities.”

After defeating KFA in the May 16, 2026 final, Portmore United lifted the Elite Cup trophy to claim the 2026 title. But as organizers and participants agree, every player who took part in the five-month tournament walked away a winner – with new experience, improved skills, and a clearer path to a future in football.

The National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) Outdoor Track and Field Championships wrapped up an action-packed three-day competition last weekend at New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs, New Mexico, and emerging as the standout performers of the tournament were a cohort of talented Jamaican athletes, who claimed top honors across a wide range of events.

One of the most impressive displays of Jamaican dominance came in the men’s 400m hurdles, where athletes from the island nation claimed all three podium spots. Shadane Smith of Hinds Community College led the historic sweep, crossing the finish line in a new personal best time of 50.19 seconds. He outpaced Central Arizona’s defending champion Richard Hall, who finished second with a time of 50.42 seconds, while Barrain Smith of Odessa College secured third place in 51.23 seconds.

In the men’s 110m hurdles, Shaquane Gordon, a former gold medalist at both the ISSA Champs and Carifta Games, lived up to his pre-tournament reputation. He clocked a wind-aided 13.04 seconds, with a tailwind of 4.1m/s exceeding the allowable threshold for record purposes, to take home the gold medal. Shevon Depass of Western Texas added another Jamaican top-three finish in the event, claiming bronze in 13.56 seconds.

Hinds Community College’s Jayval Wright turned in a stellar all-around performance in the short sprints. He won the men’s 200m with a wind-aided time of 19.91 seconds, boosted by a 4.8m/s tailwind, and followed that up with a silver medal in the 100m, finishing in 9.96 seconds. Two other Jamaican athletes placed in the top 10 of the 100m: Hector Benjamin of Indian Hills took sixth in 10.09 seconds, and Raheem Pinnock of Hinds crossed the line seventh in 10.16 seconds.

On the host campus, New Mexico Junior College’s Aaron McKenzie claimed the men’s high jump title, clearing 2.12m to beat out Barton County’s Chavez Penn, who recorded a best jump of 2.07m to finish second. Raheim Scott, also of New Mexico Junior College, added a bronze medal for Jamaican athletes in the men’s 400m, finishing in 46.47 seconds.

In women’s competition, Alexia Walker of Barton County College claimed gold in the heptathlon, amassing a total of 5,200 points across the seven events. Asharria Ulett, also of Barton County, won the women’s 100m hurdles in a wind-aided 12.89 seconds with a 6.8m/s tailwind, beating compatriot Daynea Colstock of Western Texas, who took silver in 13.10 seconds. Colstock later added a fourth-place finish in the women’s 400m hurdles with a time of 1:00.80.

Deijanae Bruce of Odessa College won the women’s triple jump with a wind-aided mark of 13.13m, while Celine Riddle of Barton County took third in the same event with 12.92m. Riddle, the 2023 long jump champion, finished second in this year’s long jump competition with a new personal best of 6.29m, just behind compatriot Ishna James of Odessa, who won gold with a jump of 6.32m.

Multiple other Jamaican athletes secured top-six finishes across the tournament. Cindy Rose of Indian Hills took silver in the women’s 800m in 2:13.93, just ahead of Terrica Clarke of Butler CC who finished fourth in 2:15.43. Kahdijah Bailey of Iowa Western claimed silver in the women’s high jump with a clearance of 1.64m, the same height as Bruce, who finished third, while Rasheda Samuels of Iowa Western took fourth and Jahmeka Brown of Barton County placed sixth. Twin sisters Shamoyea and Shamoye Morris of Barton County took second and fourth respectively in the women’s discus throw, with marks of 49.82m and 45.46m, while Carla Kay Brown of Coffeyville finished fifth and Natassia Burrell of Cloud County placed sixth. Burrell also claimed a bronze medal in the women’s javelin throw with a mark of 45.78m. In the women’s 100m, Caneilia Hope of Hinds CC finished fourth in a wind-aided 11.27 seconds, with Mickayla Gardner of Central Arizona fifth and Alliah Baker of Western Texas sixth. Rounding out the Jamaican results, Osmond Holt of Iowa Central finished fourth in the men’s decathlon with 6,263 points.

In a targeted policy adjustment announced this week, a senior United States government official confirmed Tuesday that Washington will carve out a special entry exemption for the Democratic Republic of Congo men’s national soccer team, allowing the squad to bypass a longstanding Ebola-related travel restriction ahead of their World Cup appearance.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the senior State Department official told reporters that US authorities fully expect the Congolese side to fulfill their fixture commitments at the global tournament without entry barriers. The original travel ban, implemented in response to a deadly Ebola outbreak that spread across central Africa, bars entry to most non-US citizens who have traveled within the DRC, Uganda, or South Sudan in the 21 days prior to their attempted entry to the US.

Notably, the DRC is the only nation among the three Ebola-affected countries to qualify for men’s soccer’s most prestigious international competition. The official noted that the team has been conducting pre-tournament training camps across Europe in recent weeks, meaning most squad members would likely not have met the 21-day exposure threshold that triggers the ban in the first place.

Even for players or staff who have traveled to the DRC within the three-week window, the official confirmed that a full entry prohibition will not be enforced. Instead, the contingent will follow the same strict public health protocols already mandated for returning US citizens and permanent residents, including mandatory testing and targeted isolation when necessary. This aligned approach ensures public health protections remain in place while clearing the way for the team to compete.

The official made clear that the exemption is limited exclusively to the official national team delegation, and will not extend to ordinary Congolese fans hoping to travel to the US to support their side during the tournament.

As the 2024 outdoor track and field season kicks into high gear, Jamaican triple jump standout Jordan Jordan Scott entered Sunday’s Coqui International Cup — a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver-level competition hosted in Puerto Rico — with one clear goal: to gauge his competition readiness ahead of a stacked schedule of major championship events this summer. What unfolded on the day exceeded even his quiet expectations, as the two-time World Athletics Indoor Championships finalist delivered a personal best and world-leading leap of 17.66m with zero wind assistance, a mark that improves upon his 2023 Diamond League personal best of 17.52m.

The competition was held on an elevated runway in a public park adjacent to the main stadium, an unconventional venue that did nothing to slow Scott down. After a few opening attempts to acclimate to the space, he hit his game-changing jump, confirming his strong form ahead of upcoming key meets.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer on Monday, Scott opened up about his preparation heading into the competition. “We never really went into the meet with any real expectations. We had an idea of where we were because we competed at Penn Relays a couple weeks ago — from a short approach, in the cold — and we jumped 17.23 from behind the board so we knew we’re in a good spot,” explained the former University of Virginia NCAA indoor champion. “This was the first meet this year that I jumped from a full approach so we knew there was a lot that we needed to iron out. We weren’t sure if it was going to go as smoothly as we wanted to — in all honesty, it wasn’t as smooth as we wanted it to be. But, I mean, we were able to get a good job out there, and opted to shut it down to kind of just save ourselves for upcoming meets.” The 29-year-old (who will celebrate his birthday next month) has steadily built his athletic career from his high school days competing for Jamaica’s Campion College, before moving to the United States to compete collegiately first at the University of Southern California for one year, then for the University of Virginia.

After flying under the radar for several seasons, Scott broke into global headlines in 2023: he claimed fourth place at the World Indoor Championships in China, went on to win three Diamond League events, and closed out the season with a fifth-place finish at the outdoor World Athletics Championships in Japan. He carried that momentum into 2024, capturing a historic silver medal at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Poland — the first ever World Indoor Championships medal won by a Jamaican man in the triple jump event.

Scott attributes his recent string of breakthrough performances to a shift in both mindset and training camp, a change that has re-energized his love for the sport. Now based in Maryland, Scott trains alongside Dominica’s 2024 Paris Olympic Games women’s triple jump gold medalist Thea LaFond, under the guidance of LaFond’s husband and coach Aaron Gadson.

“It’s amazing to be training with the best of the best. I mean, I feel like I have one of, if not the best, training partner in Thea LaFond,” Scott said. “She’s been at the bottom of the bottle, and she’s been at the top of the top, so she knows what it takes to get there. And, I mean, I am just following her footsteps to ensure that I’m doing everything, everything to the best of my ability, and making the right decisions to be successful.” Training alongside LaFond, whose underdog Olympic gold medal run shocked the global track world, has given Scott a new perspective on what he can achieve this season.

Even with the world-leading mark and historic medal already under his belt in 2024, Scott says he is still far from reaching his full potential, and remains focused on trusting the incremental process of improvement. “I think we’re still in the process of figuring things out so, I mean, I say it can only get better but I mean I actually believe it can only be better,” he noted.

Scott’s top priority for the 2024 summer season is the upcoming Commonwealth Games, set to take place in Glasgow, Scotland this August. “The plan, obviously, is to medal at the Commonwealth Games,” he said. Before he competes for Commonwealth Games glory, he has two key stop on his international schedule: he is slated to compete at the JBL Jump Fest, a unique street-style jumping event held in temporary triple jump pits on the streets of Košice, Slovakia on May 26, followed by the Rome Diamond League meet on June 6.

BOURNEMOUTH, United Kingdom – In a result that closed the book on one of the most tense Premier League title races in recent memory, Manchester City’s 1-1 away draw against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium has dashed the defending champions’ hopes of retaining their crown, and left the future of legendary manager Pep Guardiola hanging in the balance.

The stalemate, which left City four points adrift of league leaders Arsenal with just one fixture remaining in the 2023-24 season, officially confirms Arsenal as the new Premier League champions – ending a 20-year drought for the North London club.

Speculation has swept English football in recent days that Guardiola, one of the most decorated managers in the history of the sport, will step down from his role following City’s final league match of the campaign against Aston Villa this coming Sunday. The club has so far declined to issue any public comment addressing the swirling rumors.

Speaking to reporters after the Bournemouth draw, the 55-year-old Catalan manager said he will first hold discussions with Manchester City’s senior leadership before making any announcement about his plans. “Allow me to talk with my chairman,” Guardiola told the BBC. “I have one more year left on my contract. Every season when we reach the final stages, we sit down to discuss what comes next. I don’t discuss these matters with anyone outside the club first – the conversation starts with my chairman and my bosses.”

He went on to explain his reasoning for delaying a public statement, noting that premature confirmation of an exit would undermine his ability to lead the squad. “From my experience, when a manager already expects he is leaving, the players stop following you. You have to be able to lead with full authority. Right now, the right step is to have that conversation with the club’s leadership privately first.”

Pressed for immediate clarity during his post-match press conference, Guardiola instead shifted focus to congratulating Arsenal and their manager Mikel Arteta – who cut his coaching teeth as an assistant to Guardiola during his early years at Manchester City.

Guardiola also acknowledged that fatigue played a major role in his side’s failure to secure the three points they needed to keep their title hopes alive going into the final matchweek. The draw came just three days after City beat Chelsea to win the FA Cup final, securing a domestic cup double for the campaign.

“I would have loved to have kept pushing to the very last moment, but today the tiredness was obvious across the team,” he added.

If Guardiola does depart, his exit will bring an end to the most successful managerial stint in Manchester City’s history, and one of the most dominant runs any club has seen in English football. Since his appointment in 2016, Guardiola has led City to 20 major trophies, including six Premier League titles and the club’s first and only Champions League title to date.

Per widespread insider reports, former Guardiola assistant Enzo Maresca is the leading candidate to take over the managerial role should Guardiola step down. Maresca has been out of work since leaving his position as Chelsea manager earlier this year.

After a historic 2024-2025 Women’s Super League season that ended with a second league title for Manchester City, Jamaican superstar and captain of Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz Khadija “Bunny” Shaw has cemented her status as one of the greatest players in WSL history — but her next chapter remains up in the air, with her contract at the reigning champions set to expire in June 2025.

City secured the trophy with a commanding 4-1 victory over West Ham United on the final matchday, finishing with 55 points, four points clear of second-place Arsenal to claim the club’s second WSL crown. For 29-year-old Shaw, the title marked her first league win with the club, and she delivered a title-clinching performance, scoring two goals in the win. That double pushed her final season tally to 21 goals in 22 league appearances, earning her a third consecutive WSL Golden Boot — a feat no player in league history has ever achieved.

Shaw’s incredible season did not end with the league title. Earlier this month, she was named the Football Writers Association Women’s Player of the Year, and just this week, she claimed the WSL Player of the Season award for the second time in her career. Since joining Manchester City from French side Bordeaux in 2021, Shaw has rewritten the club’s record books, netting 117 goals in 137 appearances across all competitions — making her the only player in Manchester City women’s history to surpass the 100-goal milestone. Next weekend, on May 31, she will look to help the club complete a historic domestic double when City takes on Brighton & Hove Albion in the FA Cup final.

But behind the celebrations, contract uncertainty hangs over Shaw’s time at the club. Her current deal expires next month, and according to British media reports, negotiations over a new contract have hit an impasse, with the length of the proposed extension emerging as the key sticking point.

If Manchester City cannot agree to new terms, the striker has no shortage of suitors across the globe. Eight-time WSL champions Chelsea are reportedly leading the race to sign Shaw, with the London side prepared to offer her an annual salary of £1 million, a deal that would make her one of the highest-paid players in women’s football. Multiple-time Spanish Primera Division and UEFA Women’s Champions League winners FC Barcelona, as well as several top National Women’s Soccer League clubs in the United States, are also monitoring the situation and preparing formal offers if Shaw becomes a free agent.

Speaking to Sky Sports following the title win, Shaw acknowledged she would prefer to remain at the club where she has built her career, but stopped short of confirming she would stay. “I’ve always said Manchester is my home, it’s where I want to be, but there’s a lot of things which go on behind the scenes which I won’t talk about now,” Shaw said. “Manchester is where I would want to be, but ultimately we’ll see what happens.”

Ellen White, Manchester City’s former all-time leading goalscorer and Shaw’s ex-teammate, has spoken out publicly urging the club to get a deal done, warning that letting Shaw leave would be a critical mistake.

“She has to do what she feels is right for her and be where she feels most wanted and most valued. Why wouldn’t you give her what she deserves?” White told the BBC. “She has won the Golden Boot for three consecutive seasons in the WSL, no forward comes close to her goal contributions, and when she’s had the chance to play in the Champions League, she’s scored too. If you have the ability to pay her what she deserves and you don’t get her to sign a contract, you’re letting her go to a direct rival like Chelsea. It’s baffling. If you want to keep winning titles, you won’t have anyone who can score that many goals season after season. Is there any other player like that in the WSL, in Europe, in the United States, or even in the world?”

Despite the off-field speculation, Shaw says she is focused on savoring her first league title with City after a grueling season. “A lot of emotions, it’s been a long season, grind, hard work. We have ups and downs, but we live for these moments and I can’t wait to celebrate,” Shaw said. “It’s been a long season, I’ve always tried to do the best I can, the players I have around me make me look good.”

Looking ahead, Shaw’s upcoming international schedule adds another layer of uncertainty. It remains unclear whether she will be fit and available for Jamaica’s friendly matches against Panama scheduled for June 5 and 8. Regardless of her club future, Shaw is set to lead the Reggae Girlz this November, when Jamaica will face Costa Rica in the quarter-finals of the Concacaf Women’s Championship, with a spot in the 2026 FIFA Women’s World Cup on the line. A win would book Jamaica’s third consecutive World Cup appearance, another milestone in Shaw’s already legendary career.

A contentious goal reversal in the opening leg of the Wray & Nephew Jamaica Premier League semi-finals has reignited calls for the introduction of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology for the competition’s playoff stage, after Portmore United fell 1-0 to Mount Pleasant Football Academy at Kingston’s National Stadium on Sunday.

The match remained deadlocked until the 82nd minute, when veteran striker Warner Brown slotted home the game’s only goal, handing Mount Pleasant a crucial advantage as the side chases a fourth consecutive appearance in the league final. But the defining moment of the contest came 12 minutes earlier, when Portmore thought they had broken the deadlock through national team striker Cory Burke.

Burke’s powerful effort bounced off the crossbar’s underside, off Mount Pleasant goalkeeper Shaquan Davis, and was eventually cleared away by defender Kimoni Bailey. Initial referee Okeito Nicholson ruled the goal good, judging the entire ball had crossed the goal line, triggering wild celebrations from the Portmore squad. But Mount Pleasant’s players immediately surrounded officials to protest the call, prompting Nicholson to confer with his assistant referee, who had positioned along the goal line for the play.

After several minutes of deliberation, Nicholson overturned his original decision and disallowed the goal, a call that left Portmore’s players, coaching staff and fans furious. Supporters gathered in the grandstand’s west section erupted in protest, with many exiting the venue early before the final whistle blew.

While Portmore assistant coach Ricardo Smith admitted he could not confirm from the dugout whether the ball had fully crossed the line, he stressed that the referee’s decision to reverse his original call was incorrect. “I was just hoping he would have stuck to the first call he made, pointing to the spot. But obviously, the linesman told him that the ball didn’t cross the line. I was just there waiting to see if we got the goal and everything, but we just didn’t,” Smith told reporters post-match.

Smith argued that VAR, which has already been deployed at the same National Stadium venue for major regional and international competitions, should have been in place for the high-stakes semi-final to resolve the controversy. “We could have won the game tonight, we didn’t but I’m saying, in a big game like this, I’ve seen where VAR has been used here before. Why couldn’t the Federation or whoever set that up for these big games and so forth. That’s what I was questioning. Why isn’t VAR system set up for these games?”

To date, VAR has been used for multiple top-tier Concacaf competitions hosted in Kingston, including FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the Concacaf Nations League and the Caribbean Cup. Back in November 2024, the Jamaica Observer reported that Professional Football Jamaica Limited (PFJL), the league’s governing body, was in active negotiations to bring the system to the 2025 playoffs, but those plans never came to fruition. The process was further complicated after the exit of previous broadcast partner Sportsmax.

Though his side ultimately benefited from the decision, Mount Pleasant head coach Theodore Whitmore declined to take a firm stance on the call, while noting he believed officials failed to follow established protocol. “I’m not a referee. I’m not a VAR,” Whitmore said. “There’s a procedure you have to follow and I don’t think the referee followed the procedure. I’m dealing with coaching — I’m not a referee or assessor or nothing — that’s their part to deal with.”

Despite the disappointment of the opening leg loss, Smith said his side remains focused on turning the tie around in the decisive second leg, scheduled for this Wednesday at the National Stadium with a 6:00 pm kickoff. “We have to move forward, we don’t have enough time — two days in-between the next game,” Smith said. “We have to just keep the mentality that we came in the game with that we can win. We know we can win the game and we just have to come and turn it around.”

In the day’s other semi-final second-leg fixture, kicking off at 9:00 pm on the same night, defending league champions Cavalier FC will also aim to reverse a one-goal deficit against Montego Bay United.