Dig­i­cel T&T Pro League cham­pi­on, Joe Pub­lic will con­test Group C of the re­vised Caribbean Foot­ball Union's Club Cham­pi­ons Cup in St Vin­cent and The Grenadines, next month. The "East­ern Li­ons", win­ner of a record-break­ing five ti­tles dur­ing the last year's do­mes­tic sea­son in T&T, were orig­i­nal­ly due to face Do­mini­ca's Bath Es­tate in a home-and-away pre­lim­i­nary round se­ries on March 5 and 19. How­ev­er, fol­low­ing the 33rd Con­gress of the CFU last week in T&T, a num­ber of changes were made to the tour­na­ment sched­ule.

Joe Pub­lic, the two-time CFU cham­pi­on, will now face Suri­name's Leo Vic­tor, Bermu­da's De­von­shire Cougars, and Av­enues Unit­ed of the host na­tion in the open­ing round from March 19 to 23. The group is one of four that be­gins the re­gion's process to se­lect its trio of qual­i­fiers for next sea­son's Con­ca­caf Cham­pi­ons League. This year's tour­na­ment is a three-round event that will con­clude with a fi­nal, four-team league phase from May 4 to 8 in Puer­to Ri­co.

Group A com­pe­ti­tion in the Nether­lands An­tilles from March 16 to 20 will fea­ture Riv­er Plate of Puer­to Ri­co, Rac­ing Club of Haiti, as well as lo­cal sides CSD Bar­ber and Huben­tut For­tu­na. Group B from March 23 to 27 in Puer­to Ri­co will pit Sys­tem 3 of SVG, De­fence Force of Guyana and lo­cal side Baya­mon, while Group D from March 16 to 20 in Guyana will be con­test­ed be­tween Walk­ing Boys of Suri­name, Bath Es­tate of Do­mini­ca, and host side Al­pha Unit­ed. The group win­ners, run­ners-up and best third-place team will ad­vance to the sec­ond round along with seed­ed sides the Puer­to Ri­co Is­landers, Tem­pete FC of Haiti, and San Juan Jabloteh of T&T. Puer­to Ri­co and T&T will host two groups each.

The Is­landers, the Group D win­ner, and Group A run­ner-up will par­tic­i­pate in one of the Puer­to Ri­co groups, with Tem­pete, the Group B win­ner, and the Group C run­ner-up mak­ing up the oth­er. One of the T&T groups will com­prise Jabloteh, the best third-place team, and the Group A win­ner, while the oth­er will be made up of the Group C win­ner, along with the run­ners-up of Groups B and D. The four sec­ond-round group win­ners will then ad­vance to the fi­nal league phase in Puer­to Ri­co.

A new CFU cham­pi­on will be crowned af­ter last year's win­ner and four-time cham­pi­ons W Con­nec­tion (2001, 2002, 2006 and 2009) failed to se­cure a top two fin­ish in the T&T Pro League which guar­an­tees a place in the tour­na­ment. Last year, W Con­nec­tion de­feat­ed Is­landers 2�1 with Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic strik­er Jonathan Fana Frias, now on loan at the same club, scor­ing both goals.

Sched­ule

FIRST ROUND

(Group win­ners, run­ners-up, best third-place ad­vance)

Group A

At Nether­lands An­tilles

Tues­day, March 16

Riv­er Plate (P/Ri­co) vs Rac­ing (Haiti)

CSD Bar­ber (N/An­tilles) vs Huben­tut For­tu­na (N/An­tilles)

Thurs­day, March 18

Huben­tut For­tu­na (N/An­tilles) vs Riv­er Plate (P/Ri­co)

CSD Bar­ber (N/An­tilles) vs. Rac­ing (Haiti)

Sat­ur­day, March 20

Rac­ing (Haiti) vs. Huben­tut For­tu­na (N/An­tilles)

CSD Bar­ber (N/An­tilles) vs Riv­er Plate (P/Ri­co)

Group B

At Puer­to Ri­co

Tues­day, March 23

Baya­mon FC (P/Ri­co) vs Sys­tem 3 (SVG)

Thurs­day, March 25

Sys­tem 3 (SVG) vs De­fence Force (Guy)

Sat­ur­day, March 27

Baya­mon FC (P/Ri­co) vs De­fence Force (Guy)

Group C

At St Vin­cent & the Grenadines

Fri­day, March 19

Leo Vic­tor (Sur) vs Joe Pub­lic (T&T)

Av­enues Unit­ed (SVG) vs. De­von­shire Cougars (Ber)

Sun­day March 21

De­von­shire Cougars (Ber) vs Leo Vic­tor (Sur)

Av­enues Unit­ed (SVG) vs Joe Pub­lic (T&T)

Tues­day March 23

Joe Pub­lic (T&T) vs De­von­shire Cougars (Ber)

Av­enues Unit­ed (SVG) vs Leo Vic­tor (Sur)

Group D

At Guyana

Tues­day, March 16

Al­pha Unit­ed (Guy) vs Bath Es­tate (Dom)

Thurs­day, March 18

Bath Es­tate (Dom) vs Walk­ing Boys (Sur)

Sat­ur­day, March 20

Al­pha Unit­ed (Guy) vs Walk­ing Boys (Sur)

SEC­OND ROUND

(Group win­ners ad­vance)

At Puer­to Ri­co

Group A: P/Ri­co Is­landers (P/Ri­co), Group D win­ner , Group A run­ner-up

Group B: Tem­pete FC (Haiti), Group B

win­ner, Group C

run­ner-up

Tues­day, April 13

P/Ri­co Is­landers (P/Ri­co) vs. Group A run­ner-up

Tem­pete FC (Haiti) vs. Group C run­ner-up

Thurs­day, April 15

Group A run­ner-up vs. Group D win­ner

Group C run­ner-up vs. Group B win­ner

Sat­ur­day, April 17

P/Ri­co Is­landers (PUR) vs Group D win­ner

Tem­pete FC (HAI) vs Group B win­ner

At T&T:

Group C: San Juan Jabloteh (T&T), Group A win­ner, Best third-place team

Group D: Group C win­ner, Group B run­ner-up, Group D run­ner-up

Tues­day, April 13

San Juan Jabloteh (TRI) vs. Best-third pace team

Group C win­ner vs. Group D run­ner-up

Thurs­day, April 15

Best third-place team vs Group A win­ner

Group D run­ner-up vs Group B run­ner-up

Sat­ur­day, April 17

San Juan Jabloteh (T&T) vs Group A win­ner

Group C win­ner vs Group B run­ner-up

FI­NAL ROUND

At Puer­to Ri­co

Tues­day, May 4

Group A win­ner vs Group C win­ner

Group B win­ner vs Group D win­ner

Thurs­day, May 6

Group C win­ner vs. Group B win­ner

Group A win­ner vs. Group D win­ner

Sat­ur­day, May 8

Group D win­ner vs. Group C win­ner

Group A win­ner vs. Group B win­ner