The Guyana Football Federation (GFF), with the support of from the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) and the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean (Concacaf) will in 2021 create a professional football league.
Under an historic agreement to develop the league, the GFF will receive support from European football administrative and competitions experts to explore and define the most appropriate approach for establishing the required infrastructure, football standards, technical capacity and commercial ecosystem, a release from the body stated.
“The UEFA professional league development project represents a further deepening of the sturdy relationship the GFF has developed with UEFA through its Assist Programme,” said GFF President Wayne Forde.
“I am truly excited about the level of access we will now have to specific league development expertise and experience. The timing could not have been any better, with Guyana now set to become the epicentre of regional commerce. I am very optimistic about the prospect of a sustainable professional league.
“We have to now take our time and build a league from the bottom up. This starts with the cultivation of a professional culture within our clubs, investment in playing venues and building the management capacities needed to operate the league as a business.” Head of International Relations at UEFA, Eva Pasquier, who has been paying a pivotal role in the GFF/UEFA relationship, said: “One of the emerging opportunities from the recent Bounceback project between the GFF and UEFA Assist, in partnership with Concacaf, is the development of a strong senior league in Guyana, which will provide competitive football for the best young talent in the country. This will become a key part of the player pathway for the GFF and we have agreed with Concacaf to launch a new project in 2021, designed to help the federation set up an elite league in the country. This is an exciting step for the GFF and will hopefully lead to a new era for professional club football in Guyana in the future,” she said.
Adding his voice to the enterprise, Concacaf Senior Projects Manager, Howard McIntosh, said the initiative was “a great opportunity for the GFF to make a big step towards launching a professional football league in the country.”
“We are always keen to support our member federations and the creation of a professional league has been the ambition of GFF President Wayne Forde for some time. We are delighted that we have been able to agree the launch of a new project in partnership with UEFA Assist to help the GFF put in place the necessary systems and processes to launch such a competition.”
The GFF has built a strong relationship with European football’s governing body through the UEFA Assist programme, which has included the acquisition of minibuses for the GFF Academy Training Centres and Guyana’s recent participation in the UEFA “Bounceback” return-to-play initiative.
