Football’s Top Tier Set for October Start as FA Confirms ARG Kick-off

By Neto Baptiste

The Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) has shelved plans for a September start to it’s top tier, the Antigua Premier League (APL), revealing that the 10-team round-robin competition will now start in October.

General Secretary of the ABFA, Zorol Barthley, says the move is to accommodate the country’s participation in the Concacaf Nations League slated to start late September. The GS added that the move will also allow for necessary repairs to be carried out at the ARG, allowing the body to open it’s 2026/27 domestic season at the historic venue. 

“In terms of the repairs to be done to the ARG, the chances are the ARG, with the whole re-sanding process etc, based on the wear and tear from Carnival, may not be ready until the end of September and that being the case, the end of September is when we’re into our Nations League. So the plan, as it is now, is that immediately after Nations League, which finishes on the 6th of October, that we would start with the Premier Division on the 10th of October in the ARG,” he said. 

Barthley, appointed on June 1st by the newly elected Ickford Roberts–led executive, noted also that the FA’s use of the ARG will be limited due to the presence of international cricket throughout the latter stages of 2026 and the early parts of 2027.

“The second, fourth and sixth, I don’t know if Cricket West Indies has announced their schedule, but an England A team is supposed to be in the Caribbean and playing some games at the ARG. The reason for the ARG is that because of CHOGM, stadium is going to be taken up. Coolidge is going to be taken up so if we start at the ARG on the 10th of October, the time required to get the ARG ready for cricket for the 2nd means that we would be out of there by the 18th. So our plan, as it is, is to kick off Premier Division at the ARG on the 10th, 11th, that weekend, probably a midweek doubleheader and then finish off on the 7th and 8th,” the GS said.

In June this year, Cabinet announced that top flight football will return to the ARG on a pilot basis from September to December 2026. The Cabinet granted access to the facility for the ABFA following a meeting with sports officials. It would be the first time since 2020 that any top tier football is hosted at the venue.