Jamaal Shabazz

Jamaal Shabazz (born 22 November 1963) is a Trinidadian football manager, who is the current head coach of the St. Lucia national football team. He is known for three different stints in charge of Guyana.

For the American photographer see Jamel Shabazz.

Jamaal Shabazz
Personal information
Full name Jamaal Shabazz
Date of birth (1963-11-22) 22 November 1963
Place of birth Port Of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Club information
Current team
 St. Lucia
Teams managed
Years Team
1999–2000 Joe Public
2000–2005 MCU
2005–2008 Guyana
2011–2012 Guyana
2012–2013 T&T (co-coach)
2015–2016 Guyana
2017–2018 T&T (women)
2019– St. Lucia

Coup attempt

Shabazz was involved in the 1990 Jamaat al Muslimeen coup attempt under the group's leader Yasin Abu Bakr in his home country, with the belief that the army would support the uprising.[1] The group was imprisoned for two years[2] before the courts accepted the claim that their surrender had been based on a promise of amnesty; this was subsequently overturned by the Privy Council in London but the group were not re-arrested.[3]

As a result of his involvement in the coup attempt, Shabazz has had conditions placed on his ability to travel to the United States as required for his duties as an international football manager.[4] In 2012, he was unable to attend Guyana's World Cup qualifier against Mexico at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Texas for "personal reasons" and planned to relay instructions to his assistant Wayne Dover via Skype.[5] On 2 August 2012 he did not travel to Seattle, Washington for club side Caledonia AIA's 3-1 loss to Seattle Sounders.[6]

Football career

Shabazz was a press officer for CONCACAF from 1997 to 1998.[7] After time coaching in his native country, he served as the manager and technical director of Guyana from 2005 to 2008.[8] He established the side as a regional power with a series of results including 11 consecutive wins in 2006[9] and they reached their highest FIFA World Ranking of 86 in 2010.[10]

Shabazz led the Trinidad and Tobago women's football programme in 2010[11] before returning to take charge of Guyana in August 2011. He led the Golden Jaguars to the third round of qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, marking the furthest the national team had advanced in its history.[12] This run included eliminating Shabazz's home country with a 2-1 win on 11 November 2011,[13] ironically while Shabazz remained employed by the TTFA's coach education development programme.[14] He left Guyana for the second time in November 2012.[15]

The Morvant native is also technical director for club side Morvant Caledonia United[4] in his home community, and has acted as head coach in between his international commitments.[16] He was in charge during the 2012 CFU Club Championship victory and 2015 name change from Caledonia AIA.[17]

In 2012 Shabazz had a spell as co-coach of his country's men's team with Hudson Charles,[7] who had previously been on the opposing side as part of the military force responding to the 1990 coup attempt.[2] At the time of their joint appointment, Shabazz remained a member of the religious organization Jamaat while Charles continued in his career as a warrant officer with the country's Defence Force.[2] The duo lasted just 4 months at the helm before Leo Beenhakker and former Stephen Hart were brought in as technical director and head coach, respectively.[18]

Shabazz's third spell with the Guyanese national team was announced at a press conference on 12 January 2015[15] ahead of a friendly against Barbados,[19] and he signed a 2-year deal with the Guyanese football association in March.[20] He left the team on the expiry of his contract at the end of 2016[21] and took up duties as head coordinator of the TTFA's technical programmes.[21] In December 2016 he was appointed alongside Russell Latapy as an assistant to Tom Saintfiet with the men's national team.[22] He took over the women's national team after Carolina Morace left in 2017[23] and resigned from the role on 8 August 2018.[24]

In 2019, Shabazz received a two-year appointment to the IFAB Football Advisory Panel.[7][25] In May it was reported that he had signed a 2-year deal to become head coach of St. Lucia[26] ahead of the 2019-20 CONCACAF Nations League. With no immediate action scheduled for the team, who failed to qualify for the 2019 Gold Cup, Shabazz had been warming up with the country's elite women's programme. On November 19, 2019 St. Lucia lost 1-0 at home to Montserrat[27] and were relegated to League C.

Honours

Morvant Caledonia United

Guyana

Individual
  • GFF Presidential Award for Guyana's most successful head coach[13]

References
  1. Yvonne Baboolal (8 December 2011). "Shabazz to unionists: Don't light match if you don't want fire". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  2. Lasana Liburd (20 December 2012). "Odd couple aims to restore T&T football". Play the Game. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  3. "Trinidad marks 1990 coup attempt". BBC News. 27 July 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  4. Ian Prescott (16 June 2013). "Shabazz looks for travel help to the US". T&T Express. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  5. "Guyana manager to coach via Skype". Fox Sports. 11 October 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  6. "Shabazz: Caledonia must believe in itself". TT Pro League. 21 August 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  7. "Shabazz appointed to IFAB panel". Trinidad Express. 25 March 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  8. "Guyana wants back Jamal [sic] Shabbaz as coach". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. 25 August 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  9. "Guyana - List of International Matches". RSSSF.com. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  10. "Jamaal Shabazz will go down as probably the most successful coach..." News room. 7 October 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  11. "Jamaal Shabazz raps with media on return visit to Guyana". Kaieteur News. 12 December 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  12. "Jamaal Shabazz: "The goal is to survive"". FIFA.com (in Spanish). 19 May 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  13. "Shabazz named Guyana's best coach". Trinidad & Tobago Newsday. 19 May 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  14. "Shabazz remains Guyana national coach". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. 6 February 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  15. Clinton Urling (13 January 2015). "Shabazz returns to Guyana for Barbados friendly". CONCACAF. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  16. "Morvant Caledonia tackle FA champs North East". Trinidad & Tobago Newsday. 21 October 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  17. "Name change for Caledonia AIA". Trinidad & Tobago Newsday. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  18. "Shabazz calls on Burrell to champion cause of local coaches". Jamaica Observer. 10 October 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  19. Santokie Nagulendran. "Shabazz re-appointment heralds new era". Kaieteur News. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  20. Franklin Wilson (22 January 2016). "GFF Head Coach Shabazz eager to get going for new season". Kaieteur News. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  21. "GFF in no rush to replace Shabazz". Guyana Times. 5 January 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  22. "New Soca Warriors coach appoints Latapy, Shabazz as assistants". Antigua Observer. 16 December 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  23. "Attin-Johnson non-committal to national return". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  24. "Shabazz resigns as Senior Women's Team head coach". Trinidad & Tobago Football Association. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  25. Joel Bailey (13 April 2019). "Shabazz, the Caribbean man". Trinidad & Tobago Newsday. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  26. Walter Alibey (5 May 2019). "Shabazz signs as St Lucia coach". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  27. David Pascal (23 November 2019). "Victory and Defeat for St Lucia in Concacaf Nations League". St. Lucia Star. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
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