King rejoins Soca Warriors as Eve’s assistant, for fourth job with senior football team

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Former Soca Warriors coach Derek King is back with the Trinidad and Tobago Men’s National Senior Team, after he agreed to join head coach Angus Eve’s support staff as an assistant coach and data/match analyst. The TTFA revealed his appointment via a social media post tonight but did not offer further details.

King, 41, worked as assistant coach for the Men’s National Senior Team under Hutson ‘Barber’ Charles, Stephen Hart and, most recently, Terry Fenwick. He was axed last June when the Fifa-appointed normalisation committee terminated Fenwick’s entire coaching staff, following the team’s early elimination from the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Photo: (From left to right) Then Soca Warriors technical staff members William Wallace, Hutson Charles, Derek King and Michael Maurice get their act together before kick-off against Nicaragua on 13 October 2015.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)

Ironically, King fills the vacancy left by Charles who was released by the normalisation committee in September 2021—on Eve’s recommendation. At the time, Charles said Eve told him that he wanted to introduce a match analyst to his staff.

King, who also assisted Hart at HFX Wanderers in the inaugural season of the Canadian Premier League in 2019, has one of the most formidable CVs in the domestic game.

He is one of just two coaches to win Pro League titles with different clubs, Joe Public and North East Stars—Fenwick first managed that feat with San Juan Jabloteh and Central FC.


However, no other coach has managed Pro League and Super League titles. After securing the top-flight crown with Stars in 2017, King followed it up by leading FC Santa Rosa to the TTSL trophy in 2018.

Photo: Then FC Santa Rosa coach Derek King (centre, dark track pants) celebrates with his players after they clinched the TTSL title at the Larry Gomes Stadium on 2 December 2018.
(Copyright Allan V Crane/CA-Images/Wired868)

King is also the last Trinidad and Tobago men’s coach to snare a competitive regional trophy, as he steered the Men’s National Under-20 Team to first place in the 2014 Caribbean Championship.

At present, the Soca Warriors are preparing for the 2022 Concacaf Nations League, which starts in June. Trinidad and Tobago are one of teams in League B, the second tier of the competition, after they were demoted in 2019 under then head coach Dennis Lawrence.

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