Bahamas, Barbados, Belize seek promotion in return to League C

MIAMI – The 2024/25 Concacaf Nations League gets underway on Wednesday, with the tournament's fourth edition as nine teams in League C chase promotion to League B.

League C includes nine teams divided into three groups of three. During the FIFA Match Windows of September and October, each team will play every team in its group twice, for four matches per team.

Unlike previous editions, matches will be played at a centralized venue per group to help alleviate some of the travel challenges in the region.

Group winners will be promoted to League B. Additionally, the tournament will help to decide berths for the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup.

Group A 

Barbados, Bahamas, and the US Virgin Islands will contest Group A.

Barbados will play in League C, as it did in the inaugural edition, following two campaigns in League B. The Bajan Tridents accumulated four wins in the first edition and will seek to match or better that record. Thierry Gale has scored in every edition and is the team’s all-time scorer with six goals.

The Bahamas returns to League C, where it competed in the inaugural edition. Lesly St Fleur is the top scorer for the Bahamas in the CNL with four goals. Wood Peter Julmis was the top scorer in the 2023/24 edition with three goals.

The U.S. Virgin Islands will seek to match or better its best performance in the tournament in 2022/23, when the team accumulated four points. James Charles Mack III is the nation’s top scorer in the CNL with two goals.

Group B

Belize, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Anguilla will compete in Group B.

Making its debut in League C, Belize will look to ascend back to League B, where it spent its last three campaigns. The nation’s best season featured two victories. Deon McCaulay and Jordy Polanco share the team’s record in goals with two apiece.

Turks and Caicos Islands will play in League C for a fourth consecutive occasion. Their best result was in 2022/23, when they achieved three victories. Billy Forbes is the team's top scorer in the CNL, scoring 10 goals in all editions.

Anguilla will compete in League C for the fourth time and seeks a historic first victory. Their best performance was in 2022/23 when they finished second in Group C with two draws. Jelanie Lawrence was one of the goalkeepers with the most saves (13) in League C in the latest edition of the CNL.

Group C

Saint Kitts and Nevis, the Cayman Islands, and the British Virgin Islands are the three nations in Group C.

Making its second appearance in League C, Saint Kitts and Nevis returns after last appearing in the 2022/23 edition. The Sugar Boyz will seek to return to League B as they did in their previous stay in the third tier. Tiquanny Williams leads the nation with five CNL goals all-time.

The Cayman Islands will seek to match or better its best result in 2019/20, when they came close to promotion but were denied due to goal difference. Jonah Ebanks has four goals as the nation’s top scorer in the CNL.

The British Virgin Islands will compete in League C for the fourth consecutive time.

Their best result came in the last edition, achieving second place in Group C. Tyler Forbes is the nation’s all-time scorer in CNL with four goals. Forbes was also the assist leader in the previous edition with four.

At the end of the Group Stage in October, the three group winners and the best second-place finisher will advance to the 2024 CNL Play-In.

The CNL Play-In will take place in November 2024, with further details to be announced at a later date.