The Golden Jaguars senior men’s programme is set to feature in two international friendlies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the month of March as part of the inaugural edition of the FIFA Series.
This was confirmed by Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President Wayne Forde yesterday. Guyana has been placed in a group alongside Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea, and Cabo Verde (Cape Verde).
Forde said, “The Golden Jaguars will be playing two games on March 21st against Cabo Verde and March 26th against Cambodia. I know this is an exciting experience for the players and the coaching staff, and we look forward to them having tremendous experience and, of course, delivering memorable results for the nation.”
According to Forde, “The GFF continues to do its part to broaden its bilateral relationships with its fellow MAs across the six confederations. We have been heavily supported by FIFA, and we are happy to be among the first nations to introduce this new initiative.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a completely different part of the world; it’s a brand new experience for all of us, especially the players. The environment will be very different from what they are accustomed to within the confederation of CONCACAF, and we hope that they will seize the opportunity to perform to their utmost with the hope that they can catch the attention of some of the clubs out there in Saudi Arabia and other scouts that will no doubt be monitoring those games.”
The novel initiative, which was approved by the FIFA Council in 2023, will witness matches being staged within the six confederations during each even-numbered year.
The objective of the programme is to afford more international matches and interactions between confederations, which will aid in the overall development of the sport.
The pilot edition of the programme features 20 member associations playing in four locations across three continents. The other three hosts are Algeria, Azerbaijan, and Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, Golden Jaguars head coach Jamal Shabazz said, “This is an historic moment for us in so many ways; it’s the first FIFA Series where FIFA is looking at getting more countries involved and giving them that opportunity to play internationally. It’s very expensive to move from one confederation to the next to play a friendly match, so historically, GFF being part of this project has been huge. Even being considered much less being selected.”
He further said, “Sometimes we take things for granted and think, look at these teams in this thing; this is a huge opportunity apart from the history of Guyana, which for the first time will be actually playing in the Middle East, which is another historic moment, but the opportunities it presents for players as to impress teams in Saudi Arabia, [and] scouts. It gives us the opportunity before June to have at least the core of our players together that we can evaluate going into June because we know June is the World Cup qualifier.”
