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It ap­pears that the T&T foot­ball team will en­ter the fi­nal round of the World Cup Qual­i­fiers as the ‘So­ca War­riors’ af­ter all.

For­mer na­tion­al foot­baller and now Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary in the Min­istry of Sports and Youth Af­fairs, David Nakhid has agreed to be the ar­biter be­tween the T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (TTFA) and vet­er­an com­men­ta­tor Sel­wyn Melville over the team’s So­ca War­riors nick­name, to en­sure that the in­ter­est of the coun­try is well served.

Nakhid’s in­volve­ment comes on the heels of a fall­out be­tween the TTFA and Melville, who failed to agree on the use of the ‘So­ca War­riors’ name. Melville, who has claimed own­er­ship of the name as its orig­i­na­tor for over 20 years, has pro­posed a five-year deal that would pay him $3 mil­lion per year. Melville al­so wants to main­tain own­er­ship of the trade­mark.