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 ...

is one of the most popular sports in

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 ...

. It is enjoyed by Jamaicans from all walks of life and has grown in popularity in modern society.

Early history

In 1893, the Kingston Cricket Club, which was founded in 1863 by the elite of the colonial society, founded the first football team. Two years later, nationwide newspapers report about women's football for the first time. Between 1925 and 1932, a Jamaican men's national team was formed and played a number of friendlies, mostly against neighbors Haiti. These matches were usually played at

Sabina Park Sabina Park is a cricket ground and the home of the Kingston Cricket Club, and is the only Test cricket ground in Kingston, Jamaica. History Sabina Park was originally a Pen (urban residence and adjoining land of a wealthy merchant, shopkee ...

, the main cricket ground of the island. In the following years, female football clubs started to form in Kingston, playing a first match in the same stadium in November 1935 to raise funds for charities. In the coming years, women's football started to outgrow men's football on the island and reached the cities of

Spanish Town Spanish Town (Jamaican Patois: Spain) is the capital and the largest town in the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of St. Catherine, Jamaica, St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica, Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the Spanish and Briti ...

Montego Bay Montego Bay () is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore ...

Port Antonio Port Antonio () is the capital of the parish of Portland on the northeastern coast of Jamaica, about from Kingston. It had a population of 12,285 in 1982 and 13,246 in 1991. It is the island's third largest port, famous as a shipping point for ...

and

Saint Ann's Bay Saint Ann's Bay () is a settlement in Jamaica, the capital of Saint Ann Parish. It had a population of 10,961 at the 1991 census. Musicians Floyd Lloyd and Burning Spear, and Hero of Jamaica Marcus Garvey were born in the town. History When ...

, attracting more fans than the men did and igniting public debates about the need for a nationwide league for women. Starting from the 1940s, there is no further reporting on women's football, suggesting that

Jamaica Football Federation The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) is the governing body of football in Jamaica and is in charge of the Jamaica national football team and the Jamaican football league system, including the Jamaica Premier League. History Early history ( ...

might have followed the English FA and officially banned the sport for women. It is unknown if men played football at that time on the island, but by 1952 a Jamaican men's representative team again played internationally, organising an entire series against a Caribbean All Stars team. Under the leadership of Jorge Penna Jamaica did participate in a men's

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

qualification campaign for the first time in 1965, failing to qualify for the 1966 edition by losing to Mexico and Costa Rica in the final stage.

Football governance

The

(JFF) is the governing body of football in Jamaica. It was formed in 1910 and governs men's football since then and women's football since 1991. Between 1987 and 1991, women's football was governed by the Jamaican Women's Football Federation. The JFF joined

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 ...

and

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

in 1962.

League system

There is currently no women's league in Jamaica. For the men's league system, see Jamaican football league system

Cup system

There is currently no women's cup tournament in Jamaica. For the men's cup, see

JFF Champions Cup The JFF Champions Cup, known since 2022 as the Lynk Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout tournament in Jamaica, Jamaican football (soccer), football. The modern tournament was established during the 1990–91 season and is co ...

Men's National team

One of the major successes of the Jamaica men's national team came when the team qualified for the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. They did not progress beyond the first round, but managed to win their final group match against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, winning 2–1. They have also won the

Caribbean Cup The Caribbean Cup was an association football competition organized by CFU as its top regional tournament for men's senior national teams from the Caribbean. The tournament was held from 1989 to 2017, as the direct successor competition of the ...

on five occasions.

Women's national team

One of the major successes of the Jamaica women's national team came when the team qualified for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

. They lost all their group matches, but

Havana Solaun Havana Marguerite Solaun (born 23 February 1993) is a professional footballer who most recently played as a midfielder for Houston Dash of the American National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Born in the United States, she represents Jamaica at ...

managed to score a first ever World Cup goal for the team in their final group match against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. They have participate in 7

CONCACAF W Championship The CONCACAF W Championship is a women's association football competition for national teams organized by the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) that often serves as the qualifying competition ...

s, winning the bronze medal in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. They also finished runners up in the second CFU Women's Caribbean Cup in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Early history

Football governance

League system

Cup system

Men's National team

Women's national team

Jamaican football clubs

Football stadiums

References

External links