THE Guyana Football Federation (GFF) officially announced its inaugural ‘GFF Elite League’ in the presence of CONCACAF Club Licensing Manager, Andres Portabella and FIFA Consultant Michael Gandler last Monday at the Water Chris Hotel.Gandler spoke to the eight selected local clubs about the vision of CONCACAF and Club Licensing in the region.
He noted CONCACAF’s Mission Statement: “To develop, promote and manage football throughout the region with integrity, transparency and passion in order to inspire participation in the game”. Portabella stated that inspiring participation is key:
“So we want to inspire more clubs, we want to inspire more leagues, more administrators, and more coaches to take their organisation to the next level.”
In keeping with the new mandate issued by CONCACAF, the GFF invited applications for Elite Club Licence from all member associations to be submitted by May 12, 2015. According to the GFF, a total of eleven applications where received.
As per CONCACAF Guidelines, a First Instance Decision Making Body was established to review and pronounce on the applications. It was agreed that no Normalisation Committee Member would sit on this body. Following the review process, all eleven applications were approved for Elite Club Licence.
The Competitions Committee of the GFF then met with the view of choosing eight of the eleven Clubs to participate in the soon-to-be-launched Elite League. The selection process was guided by four criteria that were established long before applications were received.
These criteria were: Elite League Licence’ (which all 11 clubs satisfied), Budget and Financial standing, Competitive Results over a 3 to 5-year period and Geographic proximity of the club.
Following a thorough review based on the criteria outlined, the eight clubs are Alpha United, GDF, Slingerz FC, Pele, Fruta Conquerors, GFC, Buxton United and Monedderlust FC.
The GFF congratulates the eight clubs and looks forward to the commencement of the Elite League which is scheduled for August, 2015.