Cayman Islands national football team

Cayman Islands
Association	Cayman Islands; Football Association
Confederation	CONCACAF (North America)
Sub-confederation	CFU (Caribbean)
Head coach	Joey Jap Tjong
Captain	D'Andre Rowe
Most caps	Ian Lindo; Mark Ebanks (23)
Top scorer	Lee Ramoon (12)
Home stadium	Truman Bodden Sports Complex
FIFA code	CAY
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	195 (19 September 2024)
Highest	127 (November 1995)
Lowest	206 (April 2019)
First international
	Dominica 2–1 Cayman Islands ; (Roseau, Dominica; 3 March 1985)
Biggest win
	Cayman Islands 5–0 British Virgin Islands ; (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; 2 March 1994); Cayman Islands 5–0 Sint Maarten ; (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; 4 March 1994)
Biggest defeat
	Cayman Islands 0–11 Canada ; (Bradenton, United States; 29 March 2021)

The Cayman Islands national football team is the national team of the Cayman Islands, and is controlled by the Cayman Islands Football Association. It is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. Cayman Islands' home ground is Truman Bodden Stadium in George Town, and their head coach is Joey Jap Tjong. Tjong replaced Cláudio Garcia in February 2024. Garcia had replaced Ben Pugh, who was appointed in 2018, when the Cayman Islands national team had failed to win a single game in over nine years, sinking to 206 in the FIFA World Rankings. Under Pugh, they advanced 13 places in the rankings, winning four out of their six matches during the 2019–20 Nations League season.

History

1985–2000

The Caymanian football team played its first international match on 3 March 1985, against Dominica, in Roseau, as part of the 1985 CFU Championship. They lost that match 2–1 with Lee Ramoon - who would go on to become the team's top scorer - opening the scoring.

They qualified for the 1991 Caribbean Cup, falling in the first round. They returned to the tournament in 1994, suffering the same fate. However, the following year, the Cayman Islands jointly organized with Jamaica the 1995 Caribbean Cup, reaching the semi-finals. It fell to Trinidad and Tobago by a scandalous 2–9. In the match for 3rd place, they were defeated by Cuba 0–3. They would qualify again in 1998 although they failed to get past the group stage. They have not played a Caribbean Cup final phase since then.

The Cayman Islands participated in their first World Cup qualifying tie in the 1998 where they succumbed in the first round at the hands of Cuba, who eliminated them after winning twice 0–1 and 0–5.

2000–2010

In 2000, given the status of the Cayman Islands as one of the British overseas territories, the national team attempted to use this as a loophole to call up a number of uncapped players possessing British passports but who had no specific links to the islands. Barry McIntosh, a football agent, was called in to scout players for an upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifier against Cuba and ultimately he secured eight players i.e. Wayne Allison (Tranmere Rovers), Ged Brannan (Motherwell), David Barnett (Lincoln City), Martin O'Connor (Birmingham City), Dwayne Plummer (Bristol City), Barry Hayles (Fulham), Neville Roach (Southend United) and Neil Sharpe (Boreham Wood). With the exception of Allison the players all appeared in a 5–0 friendly defeat against D.C. United but before they could appear in any official internationals FIFA stepped in and barred the players from representing the Cayman Islands due to their failure to satisfy the existing rules for national team eligibility.^[4] Of the eight players only Hayles went on to play international football, appearing for Jamaica ten times.

In the first round of the 2002 qualifiers, Cayman Islands was once again eliminated by Cuba, winning 4–0 in Havana and drawing 0–0 in George Town. History repeated itself four years later, in the 2006 qualifiers, since the Cubans eliminated the Caymanian team from the World Cup for the third time in a row (1–2 in George Town and 4–0 in Havana).

Things didn't change significantly for the 2010 qualifiers, only this time it was Bermuda that eliminated the Cayman Islands in the first round, 4–2 on aggregate. Regardless, this tie saw the Caymanians earn their first points away from home, earning a 1–1 draw at Hamilton on 3 February 2008, with Allean Grant scoring in the 87th minute.

2010–present

Qualifying directly into the second round of the 2014 qualifiers, the Cayman Islands were drawn in group A along with their peers from El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Suriname. They lost 5 games out of 6, rescuing a 1-1 draw on the last day, on 14 November 2011, against the Dominicans. The Caymanian team did not play any match again in the next few years, since declining their participation in the 2012 and 2014 Caribbean Cups. But they returned to the 2018 qualifiers, facing Belize in the first round. The first leg in Belmopan finished 0–0 and the second leg in George Town finished 1–1. The 1–1 aggregate score meant the Cayman Islands were eliminated on the away goal rule. With this unbeaten elimination, Cayman Islands can say that they are one of the few teams in the world that did not qualify for a FIFA World Cup despite not losing a single match.

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Win Draw Loss Fixture

2023

11 September 2023–24 Nations League	Cayman Islands	1–2	Aruba	George Town, Cayman Islands
15:30 UTC−5	Reeves 6'	Report	Ostiana 2' Bäly 79'	Stadium: Truman Bodden Sports Complex Referee: Ismael Cornejo (El Salvador)

17 October 2023–24 Nations League	Cayman Islands	2–1	U.S. Virgin Islands	George Town, Cayman Islands
15:30 UTC−5	Seymour 17' Reeves 57'	Report	Joseph 84'	Stadium: Truman Bodden Sports Complex Referee: Randy Encarnación (Dominican Republic)

20 November 2023–24 Nations League	Aruba	5–1	Cayman Islands	Oranjestad, Aruba
15:00 UTC−4	Groothusen 16', 89' Ostiana 45+5' Maria 55' Dania 77'	Report	Studenhofft 49'	Stadium: Trinidad Stadium Referee: Norberto da Silva (Curaçao)

2024

26 March Friendly	Cayman Islands	0–4	Moldova	Antalya, Turkey
17:00 UTC+3		Report	Damașcan 28' Ioniță 31' Nicolaescu 52' (pen.) Bogaciuc 90+3'	Stadium: Mardan Sports Complex

8 June 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification	Cayman Islands	1–0	Antigua and Barbuda	George Town, Cayman Islands
21:00 UTC−5	Campbell 90+1'	Report (FIFA) Report (CONCACAF)		Stadium: Truman Bodden Sports Complex Attendance: 453 Referee: Pierre-Luc Lauzière (Canada)

11 June 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification	Cuba	3–0 Awarded^{[note 1]}	Cayman Islands	Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
15:30 UTC−4		Report (FIFA) Report (CONCACAF)		Stadium: Estadio Antonio Maceo

4 September 2024–25 CONCACAF Nations League	British Virgin Islands	0–1	Cayman Islands	George Town, Cayman Islands
15:30 UTC−5		Report	Seymour 84'	Stadium: Truman Bodden Sports Complex Referee: Jonathan Leiton (Costa Rica)

7 September 2024–25 CONCACAF Nations League	Cayman Islands	1–4	Saint Kitts and Nevis	George Town, Cayman Islands
(15:30 UTC−5)	Duval 51'	Report	Rogers 10' Williams 19', 37' Stephen 72'	Stadium: Truman Bodden Sports Complex Referee: Jonathan Leiton (Costa Rica)

9 October 2024–25 CONCACAF Nations League	Cayman Islands	v	British Virgin Islands	Saint Kitts and Nevis
--:-- UTC−4				Stadium: TBD

15 October 2024–25 CONCACAF Nations League	Saint Kitts and Nevis	v	Cayman Islands	Saint Kitts and Nevis
--:-- UTC−4				Stadium: TBD

2025

4 June 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification	Bermuda	v	Cayman Islands
--:-- UTC−4

7 June 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification	Cayman Islands	v	Honduras	George Town, Cayman Islands
--:-- UTC−5				Stadium: Truman Bodden Sports Complex

Coaching history

Neider dos Santos (1993–1996)
Ken Fogarty (1996–1999)
Márcio Máximo (2000–2001)
Marcos Tinoco (2001–2005)
Carl Brown (2006–2011)
David Braham (2011–2015)
Chandler González (2015–2018)
Charles McLean (2018)
Chandler González (2018–2019)
Benjamin Pugh (2019–2021)
Cláudio Garcia (2023–2024)
Joey Jap Tjong (2024-)

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for 2024–25 CONCACAF Nations League C matches against British Virgin Islands and Saint Kitts and Nevis on 4 and 7 September 2024.^[5]

Caps and goals correct as of 7 September 2024, after the match against Saint Kitts and Nevis

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1GK	Ramon Sealy	(1991-04-22) 22 April 1991 (age 33)	12	0	Bodden Town
1GK	Lachlin Lambert	(2006-06-14) 14 June 2006 (age 18)	6	0	Darlington Soccer Academy
1GK	Leimar Dinnall	(2004-12-17) 17 December 2004 (age 19)	0	0	St. Thomas Tommies

2DF	Jabari Campbell	(2000-06-23) 23 June 2000 (age 24)	15	0	Academy
2DF	D'Andre Rowe	(2001-01-05) 5 January 2001 (age 23)	12	0	Scholars International
2DF	Cameron Gray	(1998-10-22) 22 October 1998 (age 25)	9	1	Ascot United
2DF	Jah Dain Alexander	(1999-12-08) 8 December 1999 (age 24)	7	0	Elite
2DF	Joshwa Campbell	(2006-02-15) 15 February 2006 (age 18)	5	1	UAB Blazers
2DF	Jahziah Johnson	(2005-02-03) 3 February 2005 (age 19)	4	0	Darlington Soccer Academy
2DF	Immanuel Duran	(2005-04-04) 4 April 2005 (age 19)	3	0	University of Mount Olive
2DF	Jahiem Campbell	(2004-07-14) 14 July 2004 (age 20)	1	0	Harford Fighting Owls
2DF	Jaydon McField	(2004-08-01) 1 August 2004 (age 20)	0	0	Dubai City

3MF	Trey Ebanks	(2000-06-05) 5 June 2000 (age 24)	14	0	Gloria Băneasa
3MF	Zachary Scott	(1998-04-02) 2 April 1998 (age 26)	9	0	Sunset FC
3MF	Jordan Bonilla	(1997-02-28) 28 February 1997 (age 27)	7	0	Scholars International
3MF	Alexander Clarke-Ramírez	(2001-06-27) 27 June 2001 (age 23)	6	0	Future
3MF	Casey McLaughlin	(1996-04-28) 28 April 1996 (age 28)	4	0	East End United
3MF	Gabriele Dell′Oglio	(2004-03-09) 9 March 2004 (age 20)	4	0	Málaga City
3MF	Dimetri Douglas	(2000-02-05) 5 February 2000 (age 24)	0	0	Scholars International
3MF	Dominic Owens		0	0	Academy

4FW	Elijah Seymour	(1998-11-05) 5 November 1998 (age 25)	11	2	Newington
4FW	Mason Duval	(2001-08-24) 24 August 2001 (age 23)	10	1	Unattached
4FW	Jacobbi Tugman	(2004-10-03) 3 October 2004 (age 19)	4	0	Newington

Recent call-ups

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Deshawn Whittaker	(2006-05-31) 31 May 2006 (age 18)	0	0		v. Cuba; 11 June 2024
GK	Johnathan Mclean-Giraud	(1997-12-11) 11 December 1997 (age 26)	2	0	East End United	v. Moldova; 26 March 2024

DF	Cameron Smith	(2004-01-13) 13 January 2004 (age 20)	0	0	Trinity University	v. Cuba; 11 June 2024
DF	Darius Williams		0	0		v. Cuba; 11 June 2024
DF	Joshewa Frederick-Charlery	(1997-01-24) 24 January 1997 (age 27)	21	0	Free agent	v. Aruba; 20 November 2023

MF	Francisco Murillo	(1999-08-26) 26 August 1999 (age 25)	1	0	345FC	v. Moldova; 26 March 2024
MF	Barry-Dre Tibbetts	(2002-06-05) 5 June 2002 (age 22)	6	0	Dakota Wesleyan University	v. Aruba; 20 November 2023

FW	Gunnar Studenhofft	(2002-04-05) 5 April 2002 (age 22)	5	2	South Florida Bulls	v. Cuba; 11 June 2024
FW	Tyler Beckford	(2006-08-10) 10 August 2006 (age 18)	1	0	Future	v. Cuba; 11 June 2024
FW	Anthony Nelson	(1997-07-31) 31 July 1997 (age 27)	4	0	Sunset	v. Aruba; 20 November 2023
INJ = Withdrew due to injury PRE = Preliminary squad TRA = Training player WD = Withdrew (non-injury) RET = Retired

Player records

As of 20 November 2023^[6]

Players in bold are still active with Cayman Islands.

Most appearances

Rank	Player	Caps	Goals	Period
1	Mark Ebanks	23	7	2010–present
1	Ian Lindo	23	1	2001–2011
3	Theron Wood	22	1	2008–2021
4	Joshewa Frederick-Charlery	21	0	2015–present
5	Garth Anderson	20	2	1999–2008
6	Erickson Brown-Morfy	19	6	1998–2009
7	Jonah Ebanks	18	5	2018–present
8	Lee Ramoon	17	12	1979–2002
9	Phillip Berry	16	1	2000–2008
9	Wesley Robinson	16	0	2015–present

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Period
1	Lee Ramoon	12	17	0.71	1979–2002
2	Mark Ebanks	7	23	0.3	2010–present
3	Erickson Brown-Morfy	6	19	0.32	1998–2009
4	Jonah Ebanks	5	18	0.28	2018–present
5	Gary Whittaker	3	12	0.25	1993–2008
5	Michael Martin	3	13	0.23	2018–2020
7	Gunnar Studenhofft	2	3	0.67	2021–present
	Paul Brown	2	4	0.5	2010–2015
	Carlos Welcome	2	4	0.5	1994–2004
	Marshall Forbes	2	6	0.33	2002–2008
	Calvin Jefford	2	7	0.29	2008–2009
	Anthony Ramoon	2	11	0.18	1993–2002
	Elijah Seymour	2	11	0.18	2019-Present
	Garth Anderson	2	20	0.1	1999–2008

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup									Qualification
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930 to 1994	Not a FIFA member								Not a FIFA member
1998	Did not qualify								2	0	0	2	0	6
2002									2	0	1	1	0	4
2006									2	0	0	2	1	5
2010									2	0	1	1	2	4
2014									6	0	1	5	2	15
2018									2	0	2	0	1	1
2022									4	0	1	3	2	18
2026	To be determined								1	1	0	0	1	0
2030									To be determined
2034									To be determined
Total	–	0/7	–	–	–	–	–	–	21	1	6	14	9	53

CONCACAF Gold Cup

CONCACAF Gold Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1991	Did not qualify
1993
1996
1998	Withdrew
2000	Did not qualify
2002
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013	Withdrew
2015
2017
2019	Did not qualify
2021
2023
Total	–	0/17	–	–	–	–	–	–

CONCACAF Nations League

CONCACAF Nations League record
League										Finals
Season	Division	Group	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	P/R	Finals	Result	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad
2019–20	C	A	6	4	0	2	7	8		2021	Ineligible
2022–23	C	D	4	0	2	2	3	11		2023
2023–24	C	B	4	1	1	2	6	10		2024
2024–25	C	C	To be determined							2025
Total	—	—	14	5	3	6	16	29	—	Total	0 Titles	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Caribbean Cup

Caribbean Cup record									Caribbean Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Pld	W	D^[1]	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D^[1]	L	GF	GA
1989	Did not enter								Did not enter
1990	Did not qualify								4	1	1	2	6	10
1991	Group stage	2	0	0	2	3	5		2	1	1	0	3	2
1992	Did not qualify								2	0	0	2	2	11
1993	Did not qualify								3	0	0	3	3	13
1994	Group stage	3	0	1	2	3	6	3	3	0	0	13	2
1995	Fourth place	5	2	1	2	7	14	Qualified as hosts
1996	Did not qualify								1	0	0	1	0	4
1997	Withdrew								Withdrew
1998	Group stage	3	1	0	2	2	5	2	1	1	0	4	2
1999	Did not qualify								3	1	0	2	6	9
2001									3	0	3	0	4	4
2005									3	1	0	2	2	6
2007									3	0	0	3	1	12
2008									6	1	2	3	7	13
2010									3	1	1	1	5	4
2012	Did not enter								Did not enter
2014
2017
Total	4/19	13	3	2	8	15	30	38	10	9	19	56	92

^ ^a ^b Draws include knockout matches decided via a penalty shoot-out.

Head-to-head record

As of 7 September 2024 after match against Saint Kitts and Nevis^[7]

Positive Record Neutral Recordp Negative Record

Opponent	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Anguilla	1	1	0	0	4	1	+3
Antigua and Barbuda	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3
Aruba	4	1	0	3	5	11	-6
Bahamas	3	2	0	1	9	4	+5
Barbados	3	1	0	2	4	11	−7
Belize	2	0	2	0	1	1	0
Bermuda	9	1	3	5	8	15	−7
British Virgin Islands	7	4	3	0	13	5	+8
Canada	1	0	0	1	0	11	−11
Cuba	15	0	3	12	4	46	−42
Dominica	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1
Dominican Republic	5	1	1	3	2	14	−12
El Salvador	2	0	0	2	1	8	−7
French Guiana	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Grenada	1	0	0	1	2	4	−2
Guadeloupe	1	0	0	1	1	7	−6
Guyana	2	0	0	2	3	5	−2
Haiti	2	0	0	2	2	4	−2
Jamaica	13	1	1	11	10	40	−30
Martinique	5	0	2	3	2	13	−11
Moldova	1	0	0	1	0	4	−4
Montserrat	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1
Netherlands Antilles	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Nicaragua	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Puerto Rico	4	0	0	4	1	14	−13
Saint Kitts and Nevis	2	0	1	2	2	5	–3
Saint Lucia	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Saint Martin	6	2	1	3	8	12	−4
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	3	0	2	1	3	7	−4
Sint Maarten	3	1	1	1	8	5	+3
Suriname	4	0	0	4	0	7	−7
Trinidad and Tobago	3	0	0	3	2	19	−17
Turks and Caicos Islands	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1
United States	1	0	0	1	1	8	−7
U.S. Virgin Islands	4	3	1	0	7	3	+4
Total	112	22	20	70	110	283	−173

Notes

^ Cuba were awarded a 3–0 victory by forfeit, due to the Cayman Islands team not wanting visa issues to the United States as a result of visiting Cuba.

References

^ ^a ^b Russell, Seaford (9 June 2024). "Cayman's last-minute goal secures historic World Cup qualifier victory". Cayman Compass. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola Men's World Ranking". FIFA. 19 September 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
^ Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 11 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^ Footballers whose loved ones have told them who to play for Archived 30 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 5 March 2008
^ "Meet the Squad". Instagram. Cayman Islands Football Association.
^ "Cayman Islands". National Football Teams.
^ "World Football Elo Ratings: Cayman Islands". eloratings.net. Elo Ratings. Archived from the original on 13 June 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2017.

External links

Cayman Islands – FIFA.com (archived 2 June 2007)
Cayman Islands Football Association. Archived 12 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine.

[r3-8] Draws include knockout matches decided via a penalty shoot-out.

[5] Cuba were awarded a 3–0 victory by forfeit, due to the Cayman Islands team not wanting visa issues to the United States as a result of visiting Cuba.

[compass-1] Russell, Seaford (9 June 2024). "Cayman's last-minute goal secures historic World Cup qualifier victory". Cayman Compass. Retrieved 12 June 2024.

[FIFA_World_Rankings-2] "The FIFA/Coca-Cola Men's World Ranking". FIFA. 19 September 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.

[World_Football_Elo_Ratings-3] Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 11 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.

[4] Footballers whose loved ones have told them who to play for Archived 30 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 5 March 2008

[6] "Meet the Squad". Instagram. Cayman Islands Football Association.

[7] "Cayman Islands". National Football Teams.

[10] "World Football Elo Ratings: Cayman Islands". eloratings.net. Elo Ratings. Archived from the original on 13 June 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2017.

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