Neil Tevin Michael Benjamin Jr. (born 20 August 1994) is a

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The population of Trinidad is notably diverse, with approximately 35% Indo-Trinidadian, 34% ...

professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a winger for

TT Pro League The TT Premier Football League (formerly known as the TT Pro League) is the Trinidad and Tobago professional league for association football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division in the Trinidad an ...

club

W Connection W. Connection Football Club is a professional football (soccer), football club from Trinidad and Tobago, which currently plays in the TT Pro League. The club plays its home games at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella. The club's offices are ba ...

. Benjamin began his

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

football career in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, at the age of 17, with

in his native

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

. During his time with the ''Savonetta Boys'', Benjamin has won the

title twice and the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

in 2013–14.

Early life

Benjamin was born in

Couva Couva is a town in west-central Trinidad, south of Port of Spain and Chaguanas and north of San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, San Fernando and Point Fortin. It is the capital and main urban centre of Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo, and the Greate ...

, Trinidad and Tobago, to parents Neil Sr. and Charlene. In primary school, Neil discovered at an early age that he had a talent for his speed on the track. However, his focus would soon transition to

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and credits his father and uncles,

Glen A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. The word is Goidelic in origin: ''gleann'' in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, ''glion'' in Manx. ...

and St. Nicholas, for his passion for the sport. At the age of 7, Benjamin enrolled in the youth program at

club

– based in his hometown of

. Benjamin attended

Naparima College Naparima College (informally known as Naps) is a public secondary school for boys in Trinidad and Tobago. Located in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, San Fernando, the school was founded in 1894 but received official recognition in 1900. It was ...

San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...

, Trinidad and led the team to the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) South Zone title in 2010. He later scored the lone goal in a 3–1 loss to St. Augustine Secondary, which witnessed ''Naps'' eliminated from the national Intercol Big Five competition. In 2011, Benjamin was the joint-leading goal scorer with 10 goals in the under-17 reserve league while playing for

and was named the

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

in the under-18 reserve league the following season.

Club career

W Connection

After several seasons in the club's youth program, Benjamin was promoted to the first-team in

, at the age of 17, with

of the

. Prior to his

football debut with the ''Savonetta Boys'', Benjamin and former

teammate Shahdon Winchester received a ten-day trial with

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

in June 2011. Upon his return to

, Neil featured in five league matches and took part in the club's fourth Pro League

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

. Following the season, Benjamin helped W Connection finish runners-up in the

2012 CFU Club Championship The 2012 CFU Club Champions’ Cup was the 14th edition of the CFU Club Championship, the annual international club football competition in the Caribbean region, held amongst clubs whose football associations are affiliated with the Caribbean Foot ...

and earn a place in the

2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League The 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League was the 5th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 48th edition of the premier association football, football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional g ...

. In September 2012, Benjamin traveled to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

for a trial with

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

. During his first week, he drew serious interest from Genoa after impressing the club with his speed and had his stay extended. However, the trial proved unsuccessful and Neil was ultimately released to rejoin

in November. Afterwards, Benjamin went on to enjoy an active second

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

with the ''Savonetta Boys'' after scoring four league goals and five in all competitions, including his first career

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

as a professional in a 4–0 win over eventual Pro League champions Defence Force on 6 May 2013. Neil opened the 2013–14 season as a regular substitute for

playing primarily as a right-wing forward. During the

2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League The 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 49th edition of the premier association football, football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional g ...

, Benjamin made appearances in each of the ''Savonetta Boys four group stage matches. On 8 August 2013, he came on for Mekeil Williams in the 62nd minute and later scored W Connection's lone goal of the competition in a 3–1 loss to Árabe Unido. Two weeks later, Benjamin started in a scoreless draw at home against the

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Established on December 15, 2005, the club was founded after their fo ...

. During the match, Neil had two late match-winning opportunities with one "horrific" open net miss and another shot hitting the

crossbar Crossbar may refer to: Structures * Latch (hardware), a post barring a door * Top tube of a bicycle frame * Crossbar, the horizontal member of various sports goals * Crossbar, a horizontal member of an electricity pylon Other * In electroni ...

. Benjamin later had an impressive series of performances in the

TOYOTA Classic The Toyota Classic is a limited-production luxury car produced by Japanese manufacturer Toyota in 1996. It was styled after the Toyota AA of the 1930s–1940s (which was a visual copy of the Chrysler Airflow). It used a fifth generation Toyot ...

and

competitions. On 18 December, he was named the

of the FA Trophy final after scoring the tying goal to send the match into a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

and lead the ''Savonetta Boys'' to the club's first FA Trophy crown in 11 years. Afterwards, Benjamin experienced a dip in form with his lone league goal scored on 10 January 2014 in a narrow 2–1 win over

Police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

. He concluded his third season with

with a string of substitute appearances to help lead the club to its fifth Pro League title and second in three years.

International career

Benjamin has represented

on various levels of international competition, having been

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

for the under-17 and under-20 national teams.

Youth teams

He began his international career for the under-17 team during

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the

2011 CONCACAF U-17 Championship The 2011 CONCACAF U-17 Championship determined the four CONCACAF representatives to advance to the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico. Jamaica staged the championship between 14 and 27 February. The United States defeated Canada 3–0 in the ...

, where he made two starts in the

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

for the ''Soca Warriors'' against

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis, is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Less ...

. He made a further second-half substitute appearance in the team's final group match against

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

to help Trinidad and Tobago top their qualification group. In February 2011, during the continental competition, Benjamin started in consecutive matches against

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

and

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. However, in the quarterfinals, the ''Young Warriors'' were eliminated from the competition following a 2–0 defeat to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. In August 2012, Benjamin made consecutive starts as a defender for the under-20 team during their first round of

for the

2013 CONCACAF U-20 Championship The 2013 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was an association football tournament that took place between February 18 and March 3, 2013. The CONCACAF U-20 Championship determined the four CONCACAF teams that would participate at the 2013 FIFA U-20 Wo ...

. However, he was forced to miss the ''Soca Warriors win against

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sometimes known simply as Saint Vincent or SVG, is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies, at the south ...

after receiving two yellow cards in each of the previous two matches. In November 2012, under-20 team managers Hutson Charles and Ross Russell complained to Benjamin's parent club

concerning the timing of the player's trial with

club

and subsequent decline in form on international duty. As a result, Benjamin was left out of the squad for the team's

final round A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

of qualification.

Career statistics

Club

:''As of 23 May 2014''

References

External links

Neil Benjamin
at TTProLeague.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, Neil 1994 births Living people Men's association football forwards Trinidad and Tobago men's footballers 21st-century Trinidad and Tobago sportsmen TT Pro League players W Connection F.C. players Nam Định F.C. players Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games People educated at Naparima College