Two-time defending Elite League champions, Fruta Conquerors, have been invited by regional confederation CONCACAF via the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), to participate in the fourth edition of the Caribbean Club Shield.
This was confirmed by sources close to the club. According to the sources, the club has been contacted regarding the possibility of participating in the fourth edition, after the third version of the event was cancelled by the regional confederation due to the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“Conquerors have been invited to participate, they have been contacted but nothing is official at the moment. Official information is expected to be disclosed in the coming days”, the source further added. Efforts to contact the GFF General Secretary Ian Alves for a comment proved futile. Calls to his cellular phone went unanswered up to press time.
By virtue of being the defending Elite League champion, the Tucville-based unit can qualify for the tournament. The Elite League has been at standstill since May 27th, 2019, with Conquerors defending their championship with a perfect record of nine wins.
Fruta Conquerors competed in 2019 version of the prestigious Caribbean tournament, finishing in the cellar position of group-A with a record of two losses and a draw in Curacao.
The 2021 Caribbean Club Shield, which is in its fourth edition and is also known as the CFU Club Shield, is staged annually and features clubs from associations affiliated to the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), a sub-confederation under the jurisdiction of CONCACAF.
The 2020 event was initially scheduled to be hosted in Curacao from April 3 to 12. However, the competition was postponed on March 13, as CONCACAF suspended all competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The eventual winner of the CONCACAF Club Shield, once they have fulfilled the CONCACAF regional club licensing criteria, will face-off against the fourth-placed team of the 2020 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship in a playoff match to determine the final Caribbean berth to the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League.
The Caribbean Club Shield, which is directly supervised and administered by CONCACAF, was introduced in 2018 for non-professional leagues which are striving towards professional standards.
