They share the same name, the same complicated history, and are separated by just 50km of Caribbean sea. They sit next to each other in the Fifa rankings and are about to play each other for a shot at international glory. This weekend, the road to World Cup 2026 begins in earnest with the resumption of a nascent rivalry: the British Virgin Islands against the US Virgin Islands, it’s on, baby!
Well, maybe not quite. “OK, it’s going to sound corny, but at the end of the day we’re all Virgin Islanders,” says Yohannes Worede, the president of the US Virgin Islands Soccer Federation. “To call it a rivalry is tough because there’s a good chance that some of our players are even related to the British Virgin Islands. But what I will say is that when the lights shine bright, the US Virgin Islands comes to the table.”
