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Senior Reporter/Producer

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All 23 of the players invited to join Trinidad and Tobago’s senior men’s football team for its upcoming Concacaf Nations League assignments have accepted head coach Derek King’s request, allaying fears of a player boycott over unpaid match fees and bonuses for over 30 players.

A senior TTFA official has also confirmed that the team will be made public early next week and will assemble in Jamaica ahead of T&T’s opening League A Group A clash with Haiti at Sabina Park in Kingston on September 24.

Among the players expected to line up in Kingston is the team’s regular captain Levi Garcia, who initially announced the boycott in a bombshell interview on Wired868.com on Sunday. Garcia stated that several players had planned to refuse selection if the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association did not meet their demands of clearing at least 75 per cent of salaries owed for T&T’s 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign, which ended in November 2025.

The players took their position after repeated failed efforts to contact and meet with TTFA president Kieron Edwards.

The TTFA official told Guardian Media Sport yesterday that most of the players have now been paid up to 80 percent, which represents all but one of T&T’s six qualification matches in September, October, and November 2025.

The payment, which amounted to roughly TT$500,000, was made on Monday, bringing the total figure for salaries paid to close to TT$3.5M but, more importantly, clearing the way for head coach King and his technical staff to have a full selection pool to choose from as T&T takes on Haiti in Kingston on September 24 and the Dominican Republic in Port-of-Spain three days later.

The source said that the TTFA is committed to clearing the remainder of the World Cup campaign salaries as well as an outstanding bill for players who would have participated in any of the six international matches T&T played in 2026, including a World Cup warm-up fixture against South Korea in Utah, USA, on May 30 and another road trip to face Russia on June 9, in Kaliningrad, Russia.

Upcoming matches

Sept. 24 – Haiti vs T&T, Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

Sept. 27 – T&T vs Dominican Republic, Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain

Oct. 1 – Curacao vs T&T, Stadion Ergilio Hato, Willemstad, Curaçao

Oct. 4 – T&T vs Curacao, Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain