TRINIDAD PLAYERS WIN PAY-OUT

The players, who include Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones, Southampton forward Stern John and former West Ham and Newcastle keeper Shaka Hislop, had taken their case against the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) to an arbitration hearing in London last month.

Now the arbitrator Ian Mill QC has ruled that the players are entitled to 50% of the cash the TTFF earned from sponsorship revenues and half the profits from six pre-World Cup friendlies.

The exact figure each player should receive has yet to be decided upon by Mill but they should be in line to pocket around £125,000 each.

FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, the TTFF's special adviser, who made the initial agreements with the players, had originally offered them around £500 per player.

The 16 refused and began legal action believing they were entitled to much more.

The Sports Dispute Resolution Panel in London were told last month that the TTFF had signed a £5.5million ($11.5million) sponsorship deal with adidas before the World Cup and that the players were entitled to half that sum plus 50% of FIFA's participation money and profits from pre-tournament friendlies.

Neither the TTFF nor the players are permitted to comment as the arbitration ruling contains a confidentiality clause.

But a leaked copy of Mill's ruling states: "It seems to me that the applicants (players) have done enough to raise a case for the TTFF to answer in this respect.

"I therefore find, not without some hesitation, that Mr Warner did promise on June 12, 2006, to increase the players' share under the commercial revenues sharing agreement from 30% to 50%, in order to obtain 'practical benefits' for the TTFF, and that, therefore, that promise was, and is, legally binding on the TTFF."

The 16 players who took the TTFF to arbitration were: Marvin Andrews (formerly Rangers and Livingston), Chris Birchall (Coventry), Atiba Charles (Rochester Rhinos), Cyd Gray (San Juan Jabloteh), Ian Cox (Maidstone), Cornell Glen (Ma Pau SC), Shaka Hislop (formerly Newcastle and West Ham), Avery John (Miami FC), Stern John (Southampton), Kenwyne Jones (Sunderland), Kelvin Jack (Gillingham), Collin Samuel (St Johnstone), Brent Sancho (Ross County), Aurtis Whitley (W Connection), Evans Wise (Waldhof Mannheim) and Anthony Wolfe (North East Stars).

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