Club development workshop held to prep local football fraternity for professional league

GFF President Wayne Forde, flanked by UEFA experts Joost de Wit and Chris Milnes opens the club development workshop at the GFF National Training Centre (Photo: GFF)

The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) joined forces with UEFA Assist and Concacaf to stage a club development workshop which will better prepare local footballers for Guyana’s first professional league.

A three-day club development workshop concluded over the weekend by UEFA Assist experts Joost de Wit and Chris Milnes.

These capacity building sessions were delivered to representatives of Elite League clubs, GFF regional associations and the GFF Competitions Department, covering areas such as financial management, operational planning, brand development, fan engagement, administration, governance, regulations, and revenue generation.

“The efforts that we are making here to professionalise the game will benefit greatly from this capacity building support we are getting from UEFA Assist,” said GFF President Wayne Forde. “The workshop has given our clubs and associations a sense of what it will take for us to get to a professional level - and who better to deliver this workshop than a confederation that has proven they understand the intricacies of professional football?”

UEFA Assist has built a strong partnership with the GFF in recent years, including the delivery of two minibuses to support the operations of the GFF’s nationwide academy system, capacity building for the return of play following the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Guyana U16 national team’s participation in a UEFA development tournament in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

This recent workshop will ensure that local football officials are prepared for Guyana’s first professional league, slated to be launched in 2023.

“We’ve been collaborating with the GFF for several years now, together with the support of Concacaf,” said Chris Milnes, UEFA International Relations Project Specialist.

“This club development workshop is an important step towards building a strong and competitive professional men’s league in Guyana, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with Concacaf and the GFF in future.”