10-team national league in the making
The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) scored a winning goal after this country was named among 11 that will benefit from the WIN with CONCACAF in CONCACAF project, by the world governing body FIFA.
Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados and Suriname are the only other countries from the Caribbean zone that will profit from the project, while the six others will come from the Central American region.
At a press conference held yesterday at the GFF head office in Georgetown, FIFA’s America’s Development Programme Manager, Gregory Engelbrecht, CONCACAF Project Manager Keith Look Loy and President of the GFF Colin Klass, all spoke of the enormous gains to be derived from the Project.
Coming out on top is the implementation a national men’s league, which will be paid for exclusively by FIFA.
Look Loy who hails from T&T explained that CONCACAF received US$10 million from FIFA for development initiatives in Central America and the Caribbean, with the aim to strengthen and enhance the infrastructure of 11 fledgling leagues in the region.
Details of how much money will be given to the GFF are not yet known, since the local body will have to craft a budget and send it to CONCACAF who in return will scrutinize it and then make the money available.
The GFF will be responsible for inviting ten teams from across Guyana for the National League, in keeping with the true meaning of the ‘WIN with CONCACAF in CONCACAF programme which is also targeted at helping several leagues and bolstering areas ranging from youth and referee programmes to coaching education.
But the GFF was urged not to depend entirely on FIFA and CONCACAF since the funding will only be for the next two years. Leagues will be required to establish long-term marketing and sponsorship programmes, including television and media rights distribution.
Similarly, participating clubs will be mandated to establish a constitution, submit annual reports and sustainable youth programmes.
“This is not just about us giving you a national league but you need to look at it from a point where we are giving you a start”, said FIFA’s America’s Development Programme Manager Gregory Engelbrecht who also stated “We are looking to change the face of football and bring a unity between the business community, the government and the sport”
However, Look Loy said that it will be easy for the GFF to carry on after the first two-year funding period by FIFA and CONCACAF, since it already has one of the most important elements – full support of the general public.
He compared Guyana to his homeland, T&T where he stated that in the Twin Island Republic, a Professional League game would normally have approximately 75 persons in attendance while for the finals a few hundred would turn up.
However, this is not the case in Guyana where a normal club game would have several hundred people while the finals of the Kashif and Shanghai tournament that was held at the National Stadium saw the 16,000-seater facility being filled to capacity.
Corporate and governmental support
The FIFA officials described the venture as colossal and as such, the corporate community could benefit immensely. Already cellular service provider DIGICEL has signalled its intentions of being a part of the initiative from the outset since they were represented yesterday by marketing agent Sherwin Campbell.
Since becoming operational in the Caribbean, DIGICEL has shown a keen interest in the sport of football and has been one of the major sponsors of Guyana’s national team.
This was commended by the FIFA officials, but they also called on the Government of Guyana to be actively involved as well.
Decentralizing football
Whenever sport is being mentioned in Guyana people often only associate it with Georgetown but Look Loy and Engelbrecht said that this time, things will be different.
The FIFA officials are mandating that the project be stretched to as far as Lethem so that every community is given a slice of the cake.
It was stressed that if a country is to be a challenge to any other on the world stage, a national football league is more than important. According to Look Loy, national teams where the countries have leagues are more dominant than countries like Guyana whose local players play about 12 matches a year.
He said that footballers should be playing no less than 50 matches a year in their league and this will inevitably lead to a better team and players.
To begin with the GFF national league will start with one round, allowing the ten teams to play nine matches each. Next year, the league will run for several months playing at various venues around the country.
The GFF now has two weeks to present a proposal to CONCACAF but Klass said that this will be done in a shorter time, since the GFF had already begun planning a national league before FIFA came on board.
