TheSaint Lucia Football Association is the governing body offootball inSaint Lucia. The FA was founded in 1979, the same year the island gained independence, and is headquartered inCastries, the nation's capital. It runs the Saint Lucia men's and women's junior and senior national teams, as well as its domestic football competitions, which include both men's and women's professional leagues and youth championships.
In international competition, Saint Lucia's football teams have had some modest success against theirCaribbean neighbors, but beyond that geographical area their experience is quite limited. In fact, when the men's team facedPanama in qualifying for the2006 FIFA World Cup, it marked the first time they had ever played an opponent outside theCaribbean zone. The men's team has attempted to qualify for theWorld Cup four times, but has yet to make it past the second preliminary round in theCONCACAF region. They have been more competitive inCaribbean Cup competition, advancing as far as the semifinals. The women's national team attempted to qualify for the Women's World Cup for the first time in 2003, but did not advance past the first qualifying round despite securing two wins and a draw.
Saint Lucia's withdrawal from the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers 2021
Saint Lucia national footballers held a demonstration in front of theSt. Lucia Football Association (SLFA) headquarters in Castries on 24 March 2021. The protest was held due to the withdrawal of the country from theFIFA World Cup qualifiers 2021.[2]
Footballers raised their voice after stating no communication between the country players and the SLFA was made. Players found this was disrespectful to the country's local home based players. The players felt that they were not being considered for the upcoming qualifiers.[3]
St. Lucia was set to play theNicaragua national football team in Nicaragua on 24 March 2021 in Groupe E of the qualifiers for the grand 2022 World Cup held inQatar.[4] Frustrated players called for the resignation of the then president Lyndon Cooper. Players held placards stating "Lyndon Cooper must go."[3]
^"CFU Nations Cup to be held every 4 years".Kingston Gleaner in newspaperarchive.com. 23 December 1986. "At the Zurich meeting, Aruba, St Vincent and the Grenadines and St Lucia were accepted as members of CONCACAF which should lead to their membership in FIFA after two years."
Lyndon Cooper
Ces Podd
Jamaal Shabazz
