PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Reigning champions Jamaica and 2008 runners-up Martinique will enter the Caribbean Cup at the third round.

The Caribbean Football Union announced on Wednesday that the Caribbean Cup would begin on August 18 in Antigua and Puerto Rico.

But the Reggae Boyz and the Martiniquans can sit back, relax and size up their competition until the third round of matches begin on November 19 in Martinique.

They will head the two groups of four teams that will contest matches at Fort-de-France and Riviere-Pilote, and provide four semi-finalists that will be the Caribbean representatives to next year's CONCACAF Gold Cup.

In the first round, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic will host four groups of four teams with the group winners and two best runners-up advancing to a second round.

Those six teams will join second-round hosts Guyana, Grenada, and Guadeloupe, as well as seeded sides Netherlands Antilles, eight-time champion Trinidad & Tobago, and Haiti in three groups of four, from which the winners and runners-up will qualify for a final group stage.