GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Guyana Football Federation (GFF) president, Wayne Forde, believes the first FIFA Forward Project opened on Monday, will be key to further football development in the country.
The state-of-the-art all-weather artificial facility, located at the GFF National Training Centre, East Bank Demerara was completed last December and officially opened in a ceremony attended by officials from football’s world governing body, FIFA, along with those from continental governing body, CONCACAF.
“The unavailability of good quality football facilities across our country continues to strangle the progress of the game,” Forde said.
“Football cannot fully develop without the proper playing surfaces, changing rooms and field light. We (GFF) have set ourselves an ambitious target to construct one artificial field in each of our nine Regional Member Associations (RMAs), over the next five years.”
He added: “It pleases me, therefore, to dedicate the GFF National Training Centre to the dreams and aspirations of every boy and girl who will go on to represent the Republic of Guyana with distinction in the future.”
Director of Sports, Christopher Jones, said government’s support was firmly behind the GFF’s development vision.
“We are here today, to reaffirm the government’s commitment to President of GFF Wayne Forde and FIFA that where it is necessary to provide the same opportunities and amenities to our athletes. We want you to rest assured that such will be done,” Jones said.
FIFA’s Director of Member Associations, Veron Mosengo-Omba, said the establishment of the facility was consistent with the world governing body’s 2.0 vision, which has as one of its core objectives the investment of US$4 billion in development across its 211 member associations over the next 10 years.
He also pointed out FIFA was fully aware of the unique challenges of Caribbean football and was committed to helping to promote the game in the region.
Mosengo-Omba said FIFA was pleased with the way in which the GFF had run its affairs.
“FIFA is proud of the progress that have been made by Guyana Football Federation (GFF) under the leadership of its president,” he said.
Guyana made a huge stride recently when their senior team qualified for the prestigious CONCACAF Gold Cup for the first time ever.
