Revamped calendar will benefit local players – Vincent

With the number of competitions in the women's football calendar expected to increase next year, national youth coach Tashana Vincent says that the changes will be of great benefit to local players vying for a place in the national senior team.

Concacaf recently announced a revamped international calendar for regional women's football, which includes more competitions from 2021 to 2024. The competitions that will be included for the next four years consist of the 2023 Women's World Cup qualifiers which start in November 2021 and the introduction of the Women's National League in 2023.

Vincent says that with the majority of the senior team being overseas and engaged in club football, the new competitions will give local players the platform they need to showcase their talent and try to break into the senior ranks.

"This is going to benefit our local girls more than anything else, because overseas-based players are actually under contract now at various clubs in different countries," Vincent told STAR Sports. "And I'm sure that we are going to have opportunities where our players will not be available, and it will give our local girls an opportunity to go out there and actually fight for positions in the team."

Vincent expressed concerns that the local players were not being given an equal shot in breaking into the senior team. With the demands of more games on the women's calendar being satisfied, she hopes that this will allow the local talent to be given a fair opportunity to compete.

"Our local girls are somewhat being overlooked because we don't really have a local competition in Jamaica and they have been basically sitting down for the last couple of years," Vincent said. "So, this will give them an opportunity to go out there to fight for their spot because I think that they have been given a raw deal in terms of fighting for their spot."

The Nations League will also determine the format for the 2024 Olympic qualifiers. Additionally, the regional qualifying allocations for the 2023 Women's World Cup has not yet been established. The tournament will be the first to feature 32 teams and will be played in Australia and New Zealand.

The Reggae Girlz have not played a competitive fixture since February because of the coronavirus pandemic, and subsequent plans for camps and friendlies have been pushed back until next year if the health situation improves.