Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President Wayne Forde stated that the decision to withdraw from the CONCACAF u17 Women’s Qualifiers was due to financial constraints, as well as management personnel limitations.
Forde, during a brief interview with Stabroek Sport yesterday, revealed that the federation would not entertain the notion of competing at three international tournaments within the same period, noting that the overlapping of the competitions would put a severe strain on the coffers of the federation as well as its technical personnel.
Forde disclosed that the u17 women’s qualifiers would have attracted a cost approximately GYD$14 million to undertake. However, he disclosed that the impending CONCACAF Nations League will attract a cost of GYD$90 million for the six qualifying matches, while the looming Road to the Gold Cup Women’s Qualifiers, which will also comprise six matches, will incur a price of $GYD77 million.
“What we have done is that we will still have the requisite international matches for the girls but there was no way we could have juggled all three and it would be an uphill task for any small association”, he explained. Forde disclosed the fact that Guyana was drawn with powerhouse Canada, and that only one team will emerge from the group, it is not the type of investment that the federation should be making at this moment. The GFF on August 17th via an official press release, had confirmed that the Lady Jaguars u17 programme will not compete in the Concacaf Qualifiers but instead will participate in a tri-nation international series featuring Suriname and French Guiana.
Initially, the GFF did not disclose the reasons for not partaking in the Concacaf u17 women’s qualifiers. The correspondence also did not reveal when and where the tri-nation series will be staged but simply stated that further details about the tournament will be released in the future. According to Forde, the three technical directors of the competing nations are currently formulating the details of the event, positing that while no date has been confirmed for the staging of the tournament, the federation hopes to have their overseas contingent available to participate. Guyana previously competed at the 2022 U17 Women’s Championships after finishing second in their group during the qualifiers. They lost to Mexico 0-15 at the round of 16 stage. The team had also qualified for the event championships for the first time in 2029 but the event was scrapped due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
