The 1989 Caribbean Cup, known as the Shell Caribbean Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the seventh international association football championship for members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). It was the inaugural edition of the Caribbean Cup which replaced the CFU Championship. Hosted by Barbados, the competition ran from 2–9 July 1989 and was contested by the national teams of Barbados, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Netherlands Antilles, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.
The final tournament began with the first matches in the group stage on 2 July 1989 and ended with the final on 9 July 1989. Trinidad and Tobago defeated Grenada 2–1 in the final to win the competition for the first time.
Background The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) was founded in January 1978 as a sub-confederation of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF). Later the same year, the first CFU Championship was organised in Trinidad and Tobago. The competition was held semi-regularly until the final edition in 1988. Of the six editions held, Martinique and Trinidad and Tobago were the most successful teams after both winning the competition twice. From 1989, it was replaced by the Caribbean Cup.
The tournament was sponsored by Royal Dutch Shell following the input of employees of Shell Antilles and Gulanas Ltd. Barbados was selected as the host of the competition as Shell, based in Barbados, felt that it was better suited to host the tournament as the island nation had an international airport.
Format A qualifying tournament was held to determine five of the six teams that would participate in the final tournament. Hosts Barbados qualified automatically. The 16 competing teams were drawn into three groups of five or six teams. Each group was played as a single round-robin where each team would play all of the others once. The winner of each group plus the two runners-up with the best record would qualify for the final tournament.
For the final tournament, the six teams were drawn into two groups of three teams. Each group was played as a single round-robin where each team would play all of the others once. The winner of each group would contest the final.
Participants
Qualifying tournament Guyana were disqualified from the qualifying tournament due to non-payment of fines owed to FIFA.
Group A Qualifying group A was played between 23 April and 30 June 1989. Grenada qualified as group winners after defeating French Guiana in their final match. Trinidad and Tobago qualified as one of the two best runners-up.
Table
Results
Grenada defeated French Guiana but the score is unknown.
Group B Qualifying group B was played between 23 April and 19 June 1989. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines qualified as group winners after defeating the British Virgin Islands 2–0 in their final match. The Netherlands Antilles qualified as one of the two best runners-up.
Table
Results
Martinique defeated the British Virgin Islands but the score is unknown.
Group C Qualifying group C was played between 23 April and 18 June 1989. A number of results are unknown but the final standings, without goals for and against, is known. Guadeloupe qualified as group winners on goal difference.
Table
Results
Guadeloupe defeated Dominica but the score is unknown.
Ranking of second-placed teams
Final tournament Group stage Group A In group A, all three teams ended the round-robin with a record of one win and one defeat. Trinidad and Tobago advanced to the final on goals scored ahead of Guadeloupe.
Table
Results
Group B In group B, Grenada advanced to the final after a 1–1 draw with Netherlands Antilles in their final match secure them first place in the group.
Table
Results
Final A brace from Dwight Yorke helped Trinidad and Tobago to a 2–1 against Grenada as they won the inaugural Caribbean Cup.
Prize money The following prize money was awarded to competing teams:
Winner: $10,000 Runner-up: $5,000 Third-place: $4,000 Fourth-place: $3,000
References