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Trinidad and Tobago had 14 football referees appointed to the Fifa Referees Panel for 2026, which is the largest number in just over a decade.
Referees Timothy Derry, Cecile Hinds, Andrew Samuel, Crystal Sobers, and Kwinsi Williams all continue on the elite panel for successive years, while Nikolai Nyron returns for his second appointment—after first making the Panel in 2024—and Nathalya Williams is a first-time appointee.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
On the assistant referees list, Kirt Charles, Evelyn Douglas, Melissa Nicholas, Ainsley Rochard, and Caleb Wales were also Fifa appointees in 2025, while Keron Myers and Shash Ramsaroop celebrate their debuts at this level.
It is Trinidad and Tobago’s highest number of Fifa-level officials in a decade, with the previous high of 11 coming back in 2017.
At the time, Keilon Bacchus, Rodphin Harris, Hinds, Sobers (referees), Joseph Bertrand, Douglas, Kevin Lewis, Julie Ann Mc Dougall, Rochard, Oladele Thomas, and Wales (assistant referees) got Fifa appointments.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868.
At its lowest ebb in this millennium, Trinidad and Tobago had just five referees on the Fifa Panel between 2020 and 2022—who were Hinds, Sobers (referees), Douglas, Rochard, and Wales (assistant referees).
In sharp contrast, the two-island republic numbered 20 Fifa appointments around its peak in 1998.
Then, in 1998, Trinidad and Tobago’s list of Fifa referees comprised: Jagdesh Bhimul, Noel Bynoe, Shane De Silva, Jaggernath Golcharan, Ted Gordon, Haseeb Mohammed, Cassie Moore, Robin Murray, Richard Piper, Michael Ragoonath, Ramesh Ramdhan (referees), Margaret Adam, Simon Baptiste, Linda Bramble, Solomon Brewster, Lyndon Burton, Merere Gonzales, Cindy Mohammed, and Joseph Taylor (assistant referees).
Missing from the photo are Boni Bishop and Ramesh Ramdhan, who were both out of the country at the time.
Photo: TTFRA.
Ramdhan and Gonzales both officiated at the France 1998 Fifa Men’s World Cup, while Bramble, De Silva, Moore and Mohammed officiated at the USA 1999 Fifa Women’s World Cup.
At present, Rochard is Trinidad and Tobago’s longest serving active official at this level—having received his first Fifa appointments in 2008 and being a regular ever since, over an 18-year span.
Hinds and Wales got their first appointments in 2013 and have since been ever-presents, while Sobers and Douglas debuted at this level in 2015 and 2017 respectively.
Here, they pose with Naparima College captain Shabani Thomas (second from left) and Signal Hill Secondary captain Ackim Duncan (second from right) before the 2025 National Intercol final at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva on 10 December 2025.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president Kieron Edwards described the appointments as “a proud moment for Trinidad and Tobago football”.
“Our match officials continue to earn respect regionally and internationally through their discipline, preparation and commitment to excellence,” Edwards told the TTFA Media. “These appointments do not come by chance. They are the result of years of sacrifice, development and steady improvement.”
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Lasana Liburd is the managing director and chief editor at Wired868.com and a journalist with over 20 years experience at several Trinidad and Tobago and international publications including Play the Game, World Soccer, UK Guardian and the Trinidad Express.
