St. Thomas’ Defend as Ten Schools Chase the Nevis Primary Football Crown

The island’s primary schools are back at ET Willett Park for a month of football, with last year’s champion St. Thomas’ the team to beat and Joycelyn Liburd’s Falcons among the challengers.

The Nevis Primary Schools’ Football League returned on Friday, October 9, with ten schools from across the island chasing the title that St. Thomas’ Primary School won a year ago. The 2026 season opened with a 2:30 p.m. ceremony at the Elquemedo T. Willett Park in Charlestown and runs through Sunday, November 8 (Nevis Pages).

St. Thomas’ go in as the team to beat. The school took the 2025 championship at the same ground, in front of a crowd the organizers said filled the park, and they will want to defend it. Joycelyn Liburd Primary School, whose Falcons made a deep run last season, headline the chasing pack.

The field

The opening round lists ten schools: Nevis Academy, the Ivor Walters Primary School, the Elizabeth Pemberton Primary School, Joycelyn Liburd Primary School, Maude Cross Preparatory, St. James’ Primary, the Violet O. Jeffers-Nicholls school, Montessori, Charlestown Primary and the defending champion, St. Thomas’ Primary (Nevis Pages).

Admission is kept light by design. Adults pay $5.00 on a game day or $30.00 for a season pass, children enter free, and the gate goes back to the participating schools (Nevis Pages). The St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank is the named sponsor, with the island’s Departments of Sports and Education presenting the series (tournament materials).

The league is more than a schoolyard competition. It is where Nevis first sees its next footballers, and in a Federation whose senior men’s team, the Sugar Boyz, is scoring goals in the Concacaf Nations League, the primary-school game is the base of the pyramid.

Who lifts the trophy in 2026 is an open question. St. Thomas’ carry the crown, Joycelyn Liburd’s Falcons want to go one better, and eight other schools have a month to make their case.

The Caribbean Ledger will carry results through the season. Follow our daily scoreboard for every match day at ET Willett Park, from the opening whistle on October 9 to the final on November 8.