Levi: The truth about representing T&T, dealing with TTFA presidents, and that time I lied…

“[…] In Trinidad and Tobago, it feels like being a footballer is the worst job you can have. Elsewhere, in other parts of the world, you are highly rated and treated well, with respect from fans and agents and scouts and officials in the game.

“But then you come to Trinidad and they treat you like you are nobody. So, if that is how they treat me [as a foreign-based professional with some standing in the game], imagine for the local players…”

Men’s National Senior Team football captain and Panathinaikos FC attacker Levi Garcia opens up on the pressure of dealing with Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) officials, the disrespect meted out by football president Kieron Edwards, and the trauma of lying to his teammates, which caused him to contemplate quitting international football:

Wired868: So how are things in Greece?

(Garcia left Russia top flight club Spartak Moscow in August on a season-long loan deal with top Greece outfit Panathinaikos. Garcia helped AEK Athens to win the Super League Greece title in 2023 and was selected on the league’s all-star teams for the 2020-21 and 2022-23 seasons.

Panathinaikos, who won the last of their 20 league titles in 2010, hope the 28-year-old Trinidadian can have a similar impact on their team.)

Garcia: I am grateful to be back. We have friends here and I think it is better for my family. In Russia, there were a lot of restrictions, which could be difficult.

Wired868: How did the restrictions affect your lives?

Garcia: Well, for one, you have to use a VPN (virtual private network) to do everything. A lot of the things you are accustomed to like restaurants, food stuff and clothing brands are not there anymore.

On the football side of things, they (Spartak Moscow) got a new coach in January and I was not playing as much as I would like to. So, the reality was really hitting hard. (Garcia, according to media reports, took a pay cut to join Panathinaikos.)

Wired868: And closer to home—can you talk about the issues affecting you within the Trinidad and Tobago international setup?

Garcia: I am the type of person who, over the years, has been doing so much to try and protect the image of the national team, and thinking that the situation would change eventually. But it just got worse…

Wired868: Would you like me to take over and ask you questions? Or would you like to start with a statement?

Garcia: Well, I’d like to say something. It is every player’s dream to represent their country at the highest level… Joining the national team from the age of 15 years of old was such a great honour for me and my family. But I didn’t know the mental side of representing Trinidad and Tobago was so tough. I don’t think it is supposed to be this way.

When I first got into the national senior team, Kenwyne Jones and Khaleem Hyland were the senior guys who were doing all the off-field negotiating at that time. So, I didn’t know all the issues [in battling with football administrators].

Over the years, you get more seniority. I have dealt with several presidents since then and, even though there were problems, I think it was easier then to get on to them to negotiate, and try and fix things to get what was best with the team.

I am tired. I am criticised a lot which I accept… I have been paying for my own flights for the last six to seven years to represent Trinidad and Tobago. It is not about the money for me.

I don’t think the money I earned from Trinidad and Tobago [through match fees] is even a quarter of what I have spent to represent my country.

[…] As players, we are asked to accept the bare minimum all the time while people are expecting you to perform at the highest level. You’re coming from a place where you understand the science of football, in terms of things like your recovery. But when you’re playing for Trinidad and Tobago, the only science to speed up recovery is just: breathe in, breathe out.

Wired868: Wait, how is it you are paying for your own flights to represent Trinidad and Tobago?

Garcia: I think it started in my last season in the Netherlands or when I was playing in Israel. (Garcia moved from the Eredivisie to Israeli top flight club Ironi Kiryat Shmona in 2018.)

They (the TTFA) would send you a plane ticket and you have about five stops to get home. Now I am already having games every three or five days, with my club.

I play on a Sunday (for my club), I have to fly on Monday to go back home to represent my country and our [national] game is on Thursday. And I am seeing my plane ticket says I have to fly around the world to get to Trinidad, when I can also see that there is another flight that will get me home in one or two stops.

So, I sent the other route to them and explained that this is the better option and they said it is too expensive. So I said, okay, I would pay for the upgrade and buy the ticket.

But you don’t get the money back that they would have spent on the ticket.

And then they start sending you flights that are so bad [in terms of stops] that you wonder if they are doing it on purpose. So, I’m constantly changing the flights. And eventually I just gave up and started to book my own flights home [to play for Trinidad and Tobago].

While I was in Russia, we had to fly to Istanbul, because of sanctions, before I could even start my trip home. It is crazy money. I am not compensated for that. I don’t think I ever even had a conversation about being compensated for that. Only a few people know about that.

Wired868: Okay…

Garcia: So, from Dennis Lawrence’s time [as head coach] and especially under Angus [Eve], I had become more of a senior player who had to be involved in those off-field discussions.

And our president (Kieron Edwards) now? I remember I met him for the first time at Cara Suites in Claxton Bay, just after he was elected. And I spoke to him about some of the stuff we went through as players and he said: ‘Serious? Well, we will change all of that.’

I don’t think I am someone who gets chained up easily—but I got excited. They said they were going to change football for the better, and based on those conversations, I was really looking forward to what I felt was about to come.

The reason I was always investing so much money over the years into representing Trinidad and Tobago is because I was waiting for the moment like this, when things were going to change. But instead, things got worse.

You make an appointment for today. He doesn’t show. Then he’s going to send you a message two days later saying: ‘boy, I got caught up in a meeting.’ I swear there is nobody in Trinidad who attends meetings like him.

Wired868: Can you speak about your discussions with different football presidents? Starting with David John-Williams?

Garcia: I prefer not to speak on someone who has passed on. Things were not the best [under John-Williams], but at that time I was not one of the main guys who would be having conversations with him regularly. I knew what was happening because I was living it—but I was not the one dealing with him.

Wired868: And Fifa-appointed normalisation committee chairman Robert Hadad?

Garcia: I would say it was a bit… how to say. It wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst. I didn’t have a lot of direct contact with him, although I was in two or three captains’ meetings.

There was a talk once when they (the normalisation committee members) said: they are five senior guys (national players) who don’t need the money; and the rest of the guys, we will see how we can pay them. So there was definitely a lack of respect from them, but you could still get in contact with them at least. (Pauses.)

In Trinidad and Tobago, it feels like being a footballer is the worst job you can have. Elsewhere, in other parts of the world, you are highly rated and treated well, with respect from fans and agents and scouts and officials in the game.

But then you come to Trinidad and they treat you like you are nobody. So, if that is how they treat me [as a foreign-based professional with some standing in the game], imagine for the local players.

Wired868: And your discussions with Kieron Edwards?

Edwards: The few times we spoke, man to man, you felt he was reasonable. But I could never understand why you could be treating people like he does. How can you have five big men plus your head coach (Derek King) on a Zoom call waiting for you, and you don’t come?

Then a couple days later, he (Edwards) was supposed to attend a staff meeting in Couva. And you have big men waiting and didn’t show up to that in-person meeting either.

I don’t understand that level of disrespect. A simple thing like a message in advance would go a long way. Just say: ‘bro, I can’t make it.’ He has made so many appointments and then he didn’t show up for them.

The World Cup has come and gone and players are still owed. Promises are made and broken, and the worst thing of all is the disrespect. How could you be not answering your phone to your own players like this?

Within the last two months, since we spoke as a team and said we were not going to come to the next Fifa window if we aren’t paid, this is the most conversations we have had [with the president] in the last two years! And this is only because we decided to make a stand.

I told him I prefer you give a small figure [as a match fee] and you can fulfil it, rather than give a big figure and we have to wait years for it. There are local players who NEED the money!

At the end of the day, football is about the mental side. When you are doing so much work off the field, it affects you on the field. By the time the game comes around, you are tired.

Imagine you have months to plan for the World Cup campaign, and you are waiting until the day before your first game to discuss match fees and to discuss tickets (for players’ friends and family). I said this has to be a bad joke.

I spent thousands of euros to represent my country, and after players were begging for a meeting [with the president] for months with no answer, on the night before our first game we are finally discussing this. And, again, all you get are false promises.

I am always being questioned about my commitment to Trinidad and Tobago, but I don’t think anybody is as committed as me.

I have been representing Trinidad and Tobago for the last couple of years, practically for free—paying for my own flights, my own accommodation. Sometimes I was even paying for stuff for staff members.

I remember we were on a trip to Thailand and I saw certain staff members walking around and I could sense that something was not right. I asked if they wanted something to eat. And they started to talk about issues with the budget.

I said take whatever you want to eat and I would cover it. That was just one example because there were other times when staff members had problems that I might have helped with.

I’m not trying to be cocky. I want the environment around me to be as healthy as possible. It feels sometimes like you’re leaving a happy environment with your club, and you come to the national team and it’s just constant headaches. The kit is not organised, you have to arrange your own taxi—just issue after issue.

But then it got to where I even found myself lying to players, and telling them that if we are not winning games, we cannot apply pressure on the Association for money. But I have played with the national team long enough to see players who came on the team, got injured with the team, and their careers ended; and they got nothing out of it.

Wired868: What do you mean that you lied to the players?

Garcia: We were in Uzbekistan [for the Fifa Series]. Most of the senior guys there hadn’t been around for as long as me. And the players were upset about all the money we are owed, and everybody was talking about it all through the camp.

So, as captain, I’m trying to motivate the players by saying we shouldn’t be having a conversation about money—and if we play well and win games, then we can talk about money. But in my heart, it hurt me because I knew that wasn’t true.

I have been around for so long now, that I know even if we play well and win games, it will be the same result. I know there is a 90 percent chance that we still won’t be paid on time, or we won’t be paid anytime soon.

(Garcia has not represented Trinidad and Tobago since our penalty shoot-out loss to Gabon in the Fifa Series on 30 March 2026 in Uzbekistan. The Soca Warriors captain scored twice in a 2-2 regulation time draw, but then missed his kick in the shoot-out.)

I am hearing the same thing over and over in every camp: men need to be locked in and focused and work hard for the country. So don’t think about money, just think about working hard for your country.

Even if you call up an under-12 player, he isn’t coming there to not work hard. But right is right and wrong is wrong. The thing is, we are doing this so long that it starts to seem like wrong is right.

And that’s how you end up doing things like discussing match fees on the night before a World Cup qualifying game, when we should have been discussing the importance of the game.

Imagine if you’re a new player in his first national camp. This is your dream come true. You want to be imagining yourself scoring your debut goal or helping to win the match for your country.

Instead, you are hearing the senior players talking about how much money they are owed and if they are ever going to be paid. It is a distraction. It is so out of timing.

You are always at a disadvantage when coming into camp [with those issues].

[…] By the time of the Russia trip, I was indecisive about whether I would continue with the national team anymore. Every question I was asking the president was just falling on a deaf ear.

I spoke to ‘Rampie’ (Andre Rampersad), who was leading the team, and a teammate of mine [from Spartak Moscow], and the organisation for the team was unbelievable. My teammate was laughing and saying it was crazy.

There were times when they were stuck in an airport with no food, no money to go into a hotel, people did not have the right currency to even get a bottle of water.

It was like they were being trafficked, and sent out there to collect whatever money the TTFA could get from the friendly, and that was it… It takes me 32 to 33 hours to get out of Moscow, so I know it is a difficult flight. It took them close to four days!

Wired868: If match fees were paid to the TTFA for the friendlies in 2026, which included money to pay the Trinidad and Tobago players, then why do players leave the camp empty-handed?

(Wired868 understands that payment from match organisers for the Fifa Series and the Russia friendly, included money to the TTFA for business class travel for players. However, the local football body allegedly downgraded the hosts’ proposed travel itinerary and kept the difference.)

Garcia: I don’t have the answer to that. I don’t know where the money goes but it never seems to go towards the players, who are the ones on the pitch making the sacrifice.

Wired868: Earlier this year, I was told that match fees and bonuses were unpaid for our win against Bermuda and draws against Jamaica and Curaçao. Has that changed?

Garcia: We were paid for the first two games, which were Curaçao at home and Jamaica away. We were promised that we would be paid after every window. So, in October, we would get our September match fees, we would get our October fees in November, and then by Christmas they would finish paying off for the campaign.

But what happened was our next payment [after the September window] was in December, and that was for just one game (the draw against Bermuda).

We spoke again [with the TTFA president] when we went to the Fifa Series, but nothing was paid until we started making [threats about not playing]. We said if 75 percent of fees were not paid by a certain period of time, myself and members of the team would not play in the next Fifa window.

Then, last month, we were paid for the October window. But we didn’t receive any bonuses for those games—and he never explained why that wasn’t paid. They just paid the flat match fee for the window. And he was also picking and choosing who to pay.

So I said we can’t accept this. You can’t say you are paying the 23-man squad [for the upcoming Concacaf Nations League games] alone. So, if one of us is not in the next squad after that, you won’t pay us as well?

He said he will see what he can do. But the [second] deadline passed last Thursday. There was another meeting that he didn’t show for. And now I hear he is contacting players [separately].

I know they will call the more vulnerable players behind my back and try to put together a team, and then they will try to paint it like I am the problem.

I buried so much negative memories that I am still fishing to tell you what I’ve been through with the national team. I cancelled my wedding so many times to represent Trinidad and Tobago.

People may not understand that as a professional player, you get one vacation period per year, which is in June. I planned to get married but then cancelled those plans so many times before to represent my country, even for friendly games.

This time, we decided on our wedding date before the [2025 Concacaf] Gold Cup fixtures came out. Then, when the fixtures came out, people said I abandoned the team to get married—but it was pre-arranged.

I felt like having sacrificed so much for the national team, I am not supported or protected enough. (Pause.)

I am not the type of person who would normally ever criticise the level of my teammates or the organisation. I am from Trinidad and I have worked from the ground come up. I have come from Shiva Boys’ [Hindu College] and the National Under-17 team.

I know how difficult it is to perform at the same level as with your club, when with your club you are playing with top international players from all over the world, and when everything is well organised, and you just have to show up on game day to perform.

With the National Senior Team, you have to do so much off the field that, come game day, you’re drained. My hopes were so high to qualify for the World Cup that I even paid to bring a professional physio back from my club with me—so I could be in the best possible condition. So, I was paying for my flights plus his flight and accommodation.

Wired868: How many players are owed money from the World Cup qualifying campaign? And did players feel the TTFA was dividing the team into: players we need, and players we don’t need?

Garcia: It is 33 players being owed. I was the first one to disagree with that (the decision to pay only players expected to be in the Concacaf Nations League squad) and the players agreed with me.

So, if I am not in the next squad, I would be in the same position? I don’t know if some of the new foreign-born players fully understand what is happening.

Some players already took personal stands. Some players are owed money from even before ‘Bo’ (Kieron Edwards) came into power.

(Canada-born and based midfielder Steffen Yeates last represented Trinidad and Tobago in the closing 2026 World Cup qualifier against Bermuda on 18 November 2025. He allegedly informed officials that he won’t rejoin the team until he is paid outstanding fees.)

Another problem for me is the kit sponsorship. I have to give kudos to Dwight Yorke, who fought a lot for the players [while he was head coach]. We were given kits with our names on the back and what not.

But still, we are in a camp for 10 days and have one jersey for 10 days. We should have at least two hotel wear. And then you are seeing people’s friends and family wearing team kits that should belong to the players, while we are doing without.

Every time we ask, there is always a shipment on the way. Maybe once we got our kit on time, but then all the sizes were wrong. They pick a team and like they don’t even ask for the players’ sizes.

I also want to say that the disrespect to our legends was unbelievable to see. Yes, we didn’t qualify; but to see the disrespect to our last coach as soon as things didn’t go well, it was unbelievable—and behind closed doors, the disrespect was worse.

Dwight Yorke is a legend… What Dwight Yorke has done for our country, a lot of people just don’t understand. Maybe people who travel will understand.

Of course, the job was to qualify for the World Cup and that didn’t happen—but at the end of the day, you don’t disrespect our legends like that, and so publicly.

Wired868: So what now for the players?

Garcia: I can speak for myself. There was a poll and 90 percent of the players voted for this. If we are not paid, we are not coming.

I don’t believe they can pay off what is being owed for the last two years. But we wanted to be paid at least 75 percent of what we were due from the last World Cup qualifying campaign.

I don’t know why ex-senior players didn’t speak up before. I don’t know if they were afraid of the public backlash or whatever. I think this has been going on for too long.

If they decide to be finished with me, then so be it. But I can’t be going through this over and over. What football has given to me and my family, only God alone knows. This is such a beautiful game. But I cannot see this continue because some people are greedy and only studying their pockets.

Without the players, there is no football and then there is no money for anyone to make through football.

I have nothing personal against anybody, but I feel like sometimes coaches have to know where they are at and what roles they can take, and what roles they can maintain.

Once you are a coach and people are picking the team for you, that could never lead to success. We have players who have dreamed of playing for the national team and are working hard and can’t get called up. But someone who has a name or whose family is a friend of somebody, walking around the national team.

Once you start treating the national team like a minor league team, I don’t believe we have anywhere to go… Once you are a coach and don’t have the confidence [in yourself] to make a stance and pick your own team and not be a puppet, you’re not ready. And what I am saying here is for any future coach who might take this job.

There is so much I can say about representing Trinidad and Tobago. During those years, I have seen a lot of players suffer.

Within the last four years, I started gaining more seniority… So now that I have been made captain of the team, of course the team will go with what I decide.

I have always tried to live my life doing the right thing, and I believe it is the right thing and the right time.

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