GFF & Blue Waters sign MOU for National under-15 girls’ league

Feb 13, 2022 Sports

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and Danish-based, Blue Water Shipping, yesterday announced a five-year partnership to create Guyana’s first national under-15 league for girls, which will rapidly accelerate the development of women’s football across the country and establish girls’ teams permanently within all clubs.

GFF officials and the Blue Water Shipping management team display the new agreement, which will create Guyana’s first U15 league for girls

The GFF-Blue Water Girls’ U15 Development League, with the tagline ‘empowering girls through football’ will give an unprecedented boost to participation in women’s football, with ten clubs in each of the GFF’s nine regional associations and around 1,000 players expected to sign up. Training programmes run by the GFF Technical Department will also up skill large numbers of female match officials and coaches across the country in preparation for the competition.

“On behalf of the entire football community and every young girl that will benefit from Blue Water’s investment over the next five years, I want to use this occasion to say thank you to the management of Blue Water,” GFF President Wayne Forde told a press conference and memorandum of understanding signing ceremony at the Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown.

“We trust that the work we do over the next few years will be worthy of the generous investment you are making.”

“This tournament will positively impact the lives of hundreds of girls across Guyana and supercharge the development of women’s football, by providing an important talent pathway for players, spurring clubs to establish teams for girls and strengthening our pool of female match officials and coaches,” Forde added.

GFF President Wayne Forde (left) and Blue Water Shipping Country Manager, Richard DeNobrega, complete the signing of the MoU to create Guyana’s first U15 league for Girls

The event was attended by Blue Water Shipping’s Regional Director Brent Patterson, Regional
Marketing Manager Jenny Pisio and Country Manager Richard DeNobrega, as well as GFF 1st
Vice President Brigadier (rtd.) Bruce Lovell and GFF Executive Committee member Dion Inniss, a former FIFA match official and current GFF Head of Referees.

The partnership with Blue Water Shipping, a leading global transport and logistics provider with offices in Georgetown, builds on last year’s collaboration to support the broadcast of FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Blue Water has a strong track record in supporting football in Europe and sponsors the Blue Water Arena, which is home to Esbjerg fB and the fourth biggest stadium in Denmark.

“We take great pride in supporting the football federation and anything that brings the community together, especially in Guyana, where we know how dear football is to our country,” said DeNobrega. “Like the GFF, sport and football is very close to our company culture, and we feel privileged to be a part of this initiative and very proud to be doing this in Guyana.”

“We see this as just the start, and we are happy to support Wayne and his entire team. We look forward to the talent that this league will bring – this will be a launchpad to select the national team – and, for the ladies that are going to be a part of this, it’s an opportunity to showcase themselves to the world and to be the beneficiaries of a plethora of opportunities,” De Nobrega continued.

The annual tournament is scheduled to commence this April, with kit and equipment distributed by the GFF to participating clubs alongside pre-season training matches in March. The GFF will coordinate girls’ football festivals across the country to promote the tournament and to encourage girls from all backgrounds to participate. Following an intra-association phase across Guyana, the GFF will host national play-offs and finals at the GFF National Training Centre in July to decide the winners of the inaugural 2022 title. The competition will provide the basis for talent identification and squad selection for the Concacaf U15 Girls’ Championship in August.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News