FIFA’s Regional Office Lead, Hervé Blanchard, has commended the Guyana Football Federation’s (GFF) efforts to improve the local infrastructure and reiterated FIFA’s collaboration with the governing body to develop the sport.
This was disclosed in a release from the federation. According to the release, Blanchard visited Guyana from April 15th–16th and conducted evaluations of the nation’s facilities, which are supported by the FIFA Forward platform.
“The FIFA official also conducted a thorough review of architectural blueprints and made visits to football facilities, including the National Training Centre (NTC) in Providence, East Bank Demerara, and the potential football venue in Ann’s Grove, East Coast Demerara,” the release stated.
Blanchard said, “I was really happy to see that now the Guyana Football Federation, as well as the football stakeholder community, now benefits from a state-of-the-art football pitch and a state-of-the-art flood light system. The current facility offers a lot of potential to continue to really develop the different football-specific amenities that are going to be able to cater to national teams, women, men, boys, and girls, but also really host domestic competition.”
“I think we have already achieved significant achievements. There is incredible potential and so much more we can continue to achieve in this country where football is being played pretty much everywhere,” Blanchard further noted.
According to Blanchard, the focus should be on the development of the infrastructure to the point that Guyana will be afforded the ability to stage international fixtures, noting, “Because let’s keep in mind that currently it seems like the national team is having difficulties playing their home games in Guyana, which is something that ultimately we have to work towards.”
“I think Guyana, the Guyanese people ought to see their national team, especially the way that it is performing on the international level, to be able to play at home, so the importance of further development of that facility to FIFA but also to the GFF is kind of essential”, he further said.
Meanwhile, GFF President Forde said, “We have consistently prioritised investment in infrastructure, aiming to provide footballers with a home, clubs with a venue, and our national teams with a place to train and compete in front of supporters. We once again thank FIFA for backing our vision.”
“We are pleased to have had the opportunity to share our progress with Blanchard and to outline our comprehensive plans for future FIFA Forward investments”, he noted.
