Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President Wayne Forde has declared that Guyana will support the joint North American bid from Canada, Mexico and the United States of America for the 2026 World Cup.
Responding to a question at a press conference held at the SleepIn Hotel and Casino, Church Road, yesterday, Forde said, “It’s just good manners, if you’re at home, you look after home.”
FIFA will stage its congress on June 13th in Russia to decide who host FIFA’s first ever 48 nation World Cup. Morocco is the other nation competing with the joint North American bid for the historic rights.
Forde, in an interview back on April 6th, had disclosed that the federation had still not decided at that time who they were voting for.
However, the GFF boss has now committed to supporting the bid from CONCACAF, declaring, “If we’re (North America) successful in bringing it into our confederation, then it’s going to be the most profitable world cup in the history of the FIFA world cup. It’s projected that it’s going to somewhere around $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion in profit. So, why would we not want to do that?” He further stated, “Of course we would want to see some of that revenue being invested in particular in the infrastructure in Guyana. So, of course I’ll be supporting the joint bid of North America.”
Forde revealed that Executive Committee member Dion Innis and General Secretary Rennella Bourne will be accompanying him to the FIFA Congress in Russia.
Questioned by the media on why the GFF was supporting the trio, given their lack of benefit to the CFU nations from a competitive standpoint, Forde declared that several factors still had to be considered.
Guyana has never faced off with Canada or the United States in competitive action, while they have only played Mexico twice, during the penultimate stage of the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers.
Forde affirmed that the culture of the CONCACAF realm has changed under current president Victor Montagliani, who has made several advancements to bridge the gap between the traditional giants and emerging Caribbean nations.
According to Forde, “Victor Montagliani has brought in a new culture of inclusiveness within the operation of football. The Nations League is a good example of breaking that divide. He understands that you can’t have a confederation where you have a handful of the countries doing well, and the bulk struggling.”
The Caribbean Football Union (CFU), is expected play a vital role in the success of the joint North American bid. The confederation comprises of 41 nations, 35 of whom are eligible to vote, since six are not affiliates of FIFA. Morocco is affiliated to the Confederation of African Football, the largest of the six FIFA confederations with 56 nations, of which 55 are full members with voting rights.
North America’s 2026 bid secured an evaluation score of 402 out of 500, as compared to Morocco’s 275.The assessment, which was done by a five member FIFA appointed task force, found the African nation’s bid lacking in infrastructure and transportation logistics.
