Football in the Cayman Islands
Association football – commonly known as football – is a popular sport in Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands Football Association – the territory's football governing body – organizes the Men's and Women's national teams and administers the territory's professional league the Cayman Islands League. As members of Caribbean Football Union teams are eligible for the Caribbean Club Championship and the territory's membership in CONCACAF allows teams to participate in that organizations club and national team competitions. The Cayman Islands are also a member of FIFA and is therefore eligible to play in the World Cup.
History
Modern football in the Cayman Islands is generally attributed to the efforts of local school teacher, and later principal, Timothy McField in the late 50s and early 1960s. With the help of a road builder named Mike Simmons, the two constructed the islands first competitive pitch, known originally as the Annex, from swamp land near the school in George Town. The field played host to Jamaica the day after it was completed.The territory's football governing body, the Cayman Islands Football Association, was founded in 1966 and became an associate member of CONCACAF in 1988, gaining full membership in 1990. The national team made its CONCACAF debut in the 1991 Caribbean Cup. The territory joined FIFA in 1992 and played their first World Cup qualifying match at home against Cuba on 11 November 1996, losing 0–1.