The second Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Super League tournament gets underway on Sunday under the auspices of the WIN IN CONCACAF WITH CONCACAF pilot programme that was launched last September.
The 10-team competition will be played in two rounds as opposed to the one-round format last year and there will be home and away matches for the teams in the competition.
The first round of competition will run up to the first half of May and then a knockout competition among the top eight teams will be held.
Administrator of the Super League Kirk Douglas told media operatives yesterday at the GFF headquarters in Campbellville that he hopes the knockout tournament will conclude by May 26.
The second round is scheduled to begin shortly after the 19th FIFA World Cup in South Africa from June 11-July 11 and will go up to the end of October where the winner of the league will be declared after the accumulation of points from the two rounds.
Douglas also pointed out that following on the heels of the second round there will be another knockout tournament but this time with the four top teams. Defending champions Alpha United will feature in the final match of the double header against Seawall at 16:00 hours while last year’s second place winners GDF will play Liquid Gold in the curtain raiser at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground, Bourda from 13:00 hours.
Berbice team Rosignol United will take on Sunburst Camptown at the Blairmont ground at 15:30 hours with action also at the Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC), Linden as home teams Milerock and Bakewell Topp XX battle Buxton United and Victoria Kings respectively at 18:00 hours and 20:30 hours.
Meanwhile, Douglas said that the same teams that participated last year will be in this year’s tournament. At the briefing it was said that relegation and promotion of teams will start after this year’s tournament.
Douglas said that the teams have been briefed and the rules and regulations governing the tournament handed over. On the other hand, he noted that there will be educational training programmes for coaches and administrative staff of participating clubs which is a requirement of the WIN IN CONCACAF WITH CONCACAF mandate.
No definite date has been set but Douglas reported that the GFF will be looking to invite a marketing consultant who will aid in strategies to make the Super League a more marketable product. He envisions that as the tournament grows “it will turn into a professional league over time.”
“We are currently seeking sponsorship for the league and hopefully this will be completed pretty soon but at the moment it will be funded by FIFA as was done last year. This year we are hoping to market it much more than we did last year and we are looking to get some support from corporate Guyana and the government to help us to run this league,” Douglas explained.
Currently the budget to run the league stands at US$200,000 and according to Douglas it also helps to develop the footballers, both on the field and off.
Vice-President of the GFF Franklin Wilson supported the view that the league plays an integral role in the development of the players, citing the Golden Jaguars’ win of the Suriname Independence Cup last year, which was Guyana’s first international title.
“It contributes towards the raising of the bar in terms of the performances of players and teams and therefore we are encouraging all to take the league very seriously and to be disciplined because while they are playing here at the highest level they should be looking to go further afield,” Wilson declared.
