Maurice Lowe believes a full-strength Bermuda side could have a realistic chance of qualifying for next year’s Concacaf Gold Cup.

The Bermuda Football Association technical development director has confirmed that Bermuda will be involved in the first round of the Caribbean Cup qualifiers to be held in March.

All qualifying dates will take place on Fifa calendar dates, which means Bermuda will have the availability of their top players Nahki Wells, Rai Simons and Reggie Lambe, whose clubs are obliged to release them for international duty.

The top four teams will qualify for the Gold Cup, where they will meet countries from North America and Central America.

Unlike the World Cup qualifiers, where “all the stars would need to align” for Bermuda to have a chance of qualification, Lowe believes a top-four finish at the Caribbean Cup is within the Island’s grasp.

“One of the aims and objectives of the BFA strategic plan is for Bermuda to at least be a leader in the Caribbean region,” said Lowe, a former Bermuda captain.

“That’s not disrespecting the teams in the Caribbean, but we feel it’s a realistic expectation to do well [in the Caribbean Cup], albeit with a lot of hard work.”

The draw for the first round of qualifiers, featuring 26 nations, will be held at the Jolly Beach Resort & Spa in Antigua on Saturday.

Jamaica, Haiti, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago have received a bye because of their involvement in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

The second round of the qualifiers will be in May, with the fifth-place play-off in November, and the finals to take place in May 2017.

Bermuda have not had an abundance of professional players since the early the 1990s, when Shaun Goater, Kyle Lightbourne, Meshach Wade and Kentoine Jennings were playing in English football’s lower leagues.

And Lowe believes a Bermuda side firing on all cylinders can mount a serious challenge to any of their Caribbean rivals.

“It’s quite a challenging puzzle to put together a team, with so many players based overseas in professional football or at colleges,” said Lowe, who confirmed that Andrew Bascome would continue as the Bermuda head coach for the Caribbean Cup campaign.

“We do think it’s possibly within our reach to do well at this competition.”

Bermuda have not competed in the Caribbean Cup since 2012 when Bascome’s side, without several key players, failed to qualify from their group, losing 2-1 to Puerto Rico, 3-1 to host nation Haiti before thrashing St Martin 8-0.

Next year’s Concacaf Gold Cup will be held from July 9 to 30.

n Nahki Wells and Huddersfield Town take on Fulham in the Sky Bet Championship tomorrow looking for their fourth win in five games.

Huddersfield’s resurgence under David Wagner, their coach, has seen them climb to sixteenth in the table, ten points clear of the relegation zone.

Fulham, meanwhile, are three places below them, and have won only once in their past ten games, a 4-1 win over Rotherham United on December 29.

In League One, Chesterfield are away to Wigan Athletic, with Rai Simons likely to again start the match on the bench.

The Bermuda player has found opportunities hard to come by in recent weeks, but scored twice in the 7-1 thrashing of Shrewsbury Town after coming on as a substitute.