THE Guyana Football Federation (GFF) was asked to make four adjustments to its proposal to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCY&S) for 10 acres of land in the Leonora, West Coast Demerara area for its long-awaited GOAL project.

In an exclusive interview with Chronicle Sport yesterday, GFF president Christopher Matthias stated that while the MCY&S is willing to have the GOAL project set up on the 10 acres of land just behind the synthetic track that is being constructed, the GFF would have to contribute to the construction of an access road that would lead from the public road to the facility.
Matthias who only returned on Thursday evening from a Football International Federation Association (FIFA) Development Committee meeting said discussions on the GOAL project in several countries including Guyana were held and the major concern of those in attendance at the meeting was the development of youth programmes.
He said it is the belief of most of the committee members present on that day that most countries place their emphasis on their senior national teams, and not FIFA’s concern on youth development.
He said 2015 will see FIFA concentrate and provide more for youth development.
Asked about Guyana’s GOAL project, Matthias who took office as GFF president on April 12 last year said his Federation has already submitted all that was required by the MCY&S for the GFF to acquire 10 acres of Land in Leonora, but the Ministry subsequently requested that the GFF make adjustments to the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed by the two parties.
Among the adjustments are: contributing to the construction of the access road to the facility, managing the project, accepting that the 10 acres of land will be released to the GFF in three phases and that the GFF would have to maintain the facility since the government would not be able to do that.
Matthias further explained that US$1.5M would be needed to construct the facility but that amount could be raised through FIFA funding.
He said he is expecting a feedback on the project by the end of the month, but noted that FIFA might not approve the requests made by the MCY&S.
Asked about the forensic audit that was done since he took office last year, Matthias said the audit for the years 2011 and 2012 have been completed and they will be presented to the GFF Congress which is billed for next month and once it gets approval, it will be made public.
“The auditor’s report makes for interesting reading,” Matthias stated, adding “people who are talking this and that will be surprised”.
He said when he took over as president, the GFF was indebted by some $25M but he has been able to make a few payments and the creditors are very happy.
He did not name the creditors but said a lot of people and businesses are owed.
A source close to the GFF told Chronicle Sport that in 1998, the GFF’s income was some $11 364 451 while their expenditure was $13 679 627 and in 2012, their income was $314 099 160 and their expenditure was $308 414 201.