THE Third Annual Scotiabank Football Academy is set to begin on March 23, simultaneously in Linden, Georgetown and Berbice.

Under the guidance of the Guyana Sports Development Foundation, 24 teams, comprising males and females born on January 1, 1998 and after will commence the country’s largest schools football programme.
Encompassing different elements of the game, the programme saw some 40 teachers trained as coaches while approximately 20 students completed the Referees Course with only Linden left to complete their phase in that area.
Scotiabank and the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) under their Pepsi soft drink brand have each plugged $1.9M into the initiative which is by far the most money ever being placed in schools football and rightfully so, since it’s the largest schools football programme in Guyana.
Meanwhile, according to a release from the organisers, two matches  (male and female) will be played after the march past and opening ceremony from 09:30hrs Matches will be played every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
Coming out of last year’s programme, the GSDF had an all-star female team train continuously for approximately six months.
The team participated in an U-21 Female Football competition and won over established teams from Berbice and West Demerara.
Previously a number of female players from this programme represented Guyana in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) World Cup U-17 Qualifiers with the Female National U-17 Team winning their group playoff in Guyana and going on to Jamaica for the next round.