Aspiring youth footballers are set to benefit from the inaugural Scotiabank NextPlay Cup, a newly formed invitational youth tournament.

The competition, announced by regional governing body Concacaf, will run from November 10 to December 8 across the four territories of Concacaf member associations, including Jamaica, the Bahamas, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago.

It will feature over 2000 boys and girls ages 10-11 from a total of 224 schools, including 56 teams from each of the participating member associations.

Each team consisting of 10 players will compete in a 7v7 format. The competition is divided into urban and rural regions which are further subdivided into four groups of six teams.

The announcement of the tournament, which featured football officials, Scotiabank executives and government representatives, took place at the Spanish Court Hotel in Kingston.

Also in attendance were Concacaf Director of Development, Jason Roberts and Concacaf Player Ambassador and former Jamaica international Ricardo “Bibi” Gardner.

This pan-regional Scotiabank competition, held in collaboration with each of the participating Member Associations, is a new pillar of Concacaf NextPlay, a comprehensive grassroots development program that promotes access to football within the region, while leveraging the power of the game to drive social change.