It’s likely no one has been following this, but Antigua Barracuda FC, which is supposed to open its third USL Pro season three weeks from today, is looking like a club that’s not long for this world.
Last October, two months after a 5-18-1, last place league finish and a week after the Benna Boys (who made up much of ABFC’s roster) finished their World Cup qualifying campaign with an 0-4-1 semifinal record, coach Tom Curtis resigned (he ended up directing Bristol Rovers’ academy).
When the USL Pro schedule came out, Barracuda FC had no home games (with no mention of that uncommon proposition from the league, but a head-scratching explanation from the club’s CEO), and they planned to use fewer home-grown players, opting instead for a more regional, Caribbean approach, with the intent of finalizing the roster in the middle of last month.
Well, that didn’t happen, and February came and went and they still had no players and no coach, and the mid-February trials turned into early March trials and while that was cutting it pretty close, they said they’d be ready, no worries. Then their domestic league’s top scorer opted to play for Charlotte instead of Antigua, and just this week the local paper said the club’s participation in the season was “doubtful” because they hadn’t submitted player registrations by the deadline (which was more than a week ago).
But, wait! This morning, we learned that all is well and good, they’ve scrounged up “14 or 16 or 18” players and despite “some financial difficulties” (not foreboding at all), they’ll be ready to go in three weeks’ time.
I don’t know if the other 12 teams are paying Barracuda’s expenses (they’d been helped out by their FA while World Cup qualification was still a [pipe] dream) or what, but 26 road games over the next four-plus months with an uncertain roster and unstable infrastructure sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Given USL’s track record in the Caribbean (and the NASL’s recent troubles there), perhaps our leagues should just stick to the mainland. I can’t see any way this particular story ends well.
2026 EDIT: I believe I had that one. Antigua went winless for the season and disappeared shortly thereafter. The Guardian has a good recap of it all here.
I kinda figured once Antigua’s WC qualifiers were finished that this team would be in doubt. It’s pretty obvious they were put together to help the national team with World Cup qualifying.
You would think the rest of the league would just nip this in the bud now instead of dragging along a team that will likely finish in last anyway, and has outlived it usefulness to it’s FA (WC qualifying).
You know the USL however, they tend to not throw out that old potato salad until it starts to get furry and stinks up the fridge.
Actually, the club itself is a pro club that has existed in their domestic league for a while, but they did move it into USL and put their national team guys on it to try to bolster their qualifying campaign.
Which, of course, was silly from the jump.