Jamaal Shabazz (born 22 November 1963) is a Trinidadian

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manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

, who has recently vacated the position of head coach of the

Guyana national football team The Guyana national football team, nicknamed the ''Golden Jaguars'', represents Guyana in international football and is controlled by the Guyana Football Federation. It is one of three South American nations to be a member of the Caribbean Fo ...

. He is known for four different stints in charge of

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

Coup attempt

Shabazz was involved in the 1990

Jamaat al Muslimeen The Jammat-al-Muslimeen (, also transliterated as Jamaat-ul Muslimeen or Jama'at al-Muslimeen, ''"School of Muslims", "Group of Muslims", "The Muslim Group", "The Muslim Assembly", "The Muslim Society", "The Muslim Community"'') is an Islamist ...

coup

attempt An attempt to commit a crime occurs if a criminal has an intent to commit a crime and takes a substantial step toward completing the crime, but for reasons not intended by the criminal, the final resulting crime does not occur.''Criminal Law - ...

under the group's leader

Yasin Abu Bakr Yasin Abu Bakr (born Lennox Philip; 19 October 1941 – 21 October 2021) was a Trinidadian religious leader who led the Jamaat al Muslimeen, a Muslim group in Trinidad and Tobago. The group staged an Jamaat al Muslimeen coup attempt, attempte ...

in his home country, with the belief that the army would support the uprising. The group was imprisoned for two years before the courts accepted the claim that their surrender had been based on a promise of amnesty; this was subsequently overturned by the Privy Council in

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but the group were not re-arrested. As a result of his involvement in the coup attempt, Shabazz has had conditions placed on his ability to travel to the United States as required for his duties as an international football manager. In 2012, he was unable to attend Guyana's

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against

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for "personal reasons" and planned to relay instructions to his assistant Wayne Dover via

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. On 2 August 2012 he did not travel to

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for club side

Caledonia AIA Morvant Caledonia United (formerly known as Caledonia AIA) is a professional football team in Trinidad and Tobago's top-level TT Pro League. It is based in Morvant; its home stadium is Hasely Crawford Stadium. History The Caledonia AIA Football ...

's 3–1 loss to

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Football career

Shabazz was a press officer for

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

from 1997 to 1998. After time coaching in his native country, he served as the manager and technical director of Guyana from 2005 to 2008. He established the side as a regional power with a series of results including 11 consecutive wins in 2006 and they reached their highest

FIFA World Ranking The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, first introduced in December 1992. The men's teams of the member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their gam ...

of 86 in 2010. Shabazz led the Trinidad and Tobago women's football programme in 2010 before returning to take charge of Guyana in August 2011. He led the ''Golden Jaguars'' to the third round of

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for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

, marking the furthest the national team had advanced in its history. This run included eliminating Shabazz's home country with a 2–1 win on 11 November 2011, ironically while Shabazz remained employed by the TTFA's coach education development programme. He left Guyana for the second time in November 2012. The

Morvant Morvant (pronounced, in the local English dialect, "mor-vuh") is a community in Trinidad and Tobago located east of Port of Spain in the region of San Juan-Laventille. Location Morvant is located in the southern foothills of the Northern Range of ...

native is also technical director for club side

Morvant Caledonia United Morvant Caledonia United (formerly known as Caledonia AIA) is a professional Association football, football team in Trinidad and Tobago's top-level TT Pro League. It is based in Morvant, Trinidad and Tobago, Morvant; its home stadium is Hasely Cr ...

in his home community, and has acted as head coach in between his international commitments. He was in charge during the 2012

CFU Club Championship The Caribbean Club Championship, also known as the CFU Club Championship or CFU Club Champions' Cup, was an annual international football competition held amongst association football clubs that are members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). ...

victory and 2015 name change from Caledonia AIA. In 2012 Shabazz had a spell as co-coach of his country's men's team with Hudson Charles, who had previously been on the opposing side as part of the military force responding to the 1990 coup attempt. At the time of their joint appointment, Shabazz remained a member of the religious organization Jamaat while Charles continued in his career as a warrant officer with the country's Defence Force. The duo lasted just four months at the helm before

Leo Beenhakker Leo Beenhakker (; 2 August 1942 – 10 April 2025) was a Dutch football player and coach. Nicknamed "Don Leo" for his role in Spanish football, he had an extensive and successful career both at club and international level. After his amateur pl ...

and former Stephen Hart were brought in as technical director and head coach, respectively. Shabazz's third spell with the Guyanese national team was announced at a press conference on 12 January 2015 ahead of a friendly against

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, and he signed a two-year deal with the Guyanese football association in March. He left the team on the expiry of his contract at the end of 2016 and took up duties as head coordinator of the TTFA's technical programmes. In December 2016 he was appointed alongside

Russell Latapy Russell Nigel Latapy CM (born 2 August 1968) is a Trinidadian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, and is currently the assistant coach of Macarthur. In a senior career which spanned more than twenty years at ...

as an assistant to

Tom Saintfiet Tom Saintfiet (born 29 March 1973) is a Belgian football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Mali national team. He managed the Gambian national team from 2018 to 2024, earning a place in the top five list of best coa ...

with the men's national team. He took over the women's national team after

Carolina Morace Carolina Morace (; born 5 February 1964) is an Italian politician and former footballer, who played as a striker. She was most recently the head coach of Lazio Women. She played for the Italian national team and for various clubs in women's ...

left in 2017 and resigned from the role on 8 August 2018. In 2019, Shabazz received a two-year appointment to the

IFAB The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is an international self-regulatory body of association football that is known for determining the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game, the regulations for the gameplay o ...

Football Advisory Panel. In May it was reported that he had signed a two-year deal to become head coach of St. Lucia ahead of the 2019-20 CONCACAF Nations League. With no immediate action scheduled for the team, who failed to qualify for the 2019 Gold Cup, Shabazz had been warming up with the country's elite women's programme. On 19 November 2019 St. Lucia lost 1–0 at home to

Montserrat Montserrat ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, wit ...

and were relegated to

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Honours

Morvant Caledonia United *

Trinidad and Tobago FA Trophy The Trinidad and Tobago FA Trophy, is the premier knockout tournament for teams in Trinidad and Tobago that is open to all clubs affiliated with the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association. The FA Trophy is the oldest football competition in Tri ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, 2011-12, 2012-13 *

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 ...

Most Disciplined Team: 2011-12 *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Guyana *

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Biggest Mover: 2006 Individual * GFF Presidential Award for Guyana's most successful head coach

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shabazz, Jamaal 1963 births Living people Trinidad and Tobago Muslims Trinidad and Tobago football managers Sportspeople from Port of Spain Joe Public F.C. managers Guyana national football team managers Trinidad and Tobago national football team managers Saint Lucia national football team managers TT Pro League managers Expatriate football managers in Guyana Expatriate football managers in Saint Lucia Association football managers by women's national team Trinidad and Tobago women's national football team