THE Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has announced some ambitious plans for the remainder of 2014, beginning with the Golden Arrowhead Cup which is set for a September kick-off and will culminate with The Nations Cup.

Speaking exclusively with Chronicle Sport on Tuesday, the Federation’s president Christopher Matthias explained that the Arrowhead Cup will involve approximately 90 teams drawn from its (GFF) eight affiliates – Georgetown Football Association, West Demerara Football Association, Upper Demerara Football Association, Berbice Football Association, Bartica Football Association, East Bank Football Association, Essequibo Football Association, and East Demerara Football Association.
The eight associations will first run off individual competitions and the top two teams from each of the associations will then advance to the Nations Cup which will culminate on January 1 with the third place play-off and final.
Asked if the Nations Cup final will not clash with the annual Kashif and Shanghai tournament, Matthias told Chronicle Sport that the Kashif and Shanghai organisation has to date, not made any application for the staging of their annual tournament.
Apart from the Golden Arrowhead Cup, the National Premier League will also commence next month and will involve 16 teams.
He said the four teams that placed at the bottom of the table in the 2013/14 Banks Beer National Premier League will be relegated and will be replaced by four other teams.
The four teams that will be relegated are: Santos and BV/Triumph who finished with 17 points each, along with Mahaica Determinators and Young Achievers who ended the league with 15 and three points respectively.
The GFF boss said the aforementioned teams will be replaced by teams that finished as top performers in their respective associations Division One competition.
Questioned about when the top performers of the 2013/14 League will be rewarded for their efforts, Matthias said the GFF has already written the sponsors (Banks DIH Limited) informing them about the outcome of the tournament and are currently awaiting word from the beverage `giant’ as to when Banks DIH will be ready to hand over the prizes to the respective winners.
Alpha `The Hammer’ United ended at the top of the points table with 45 points from 15 wins in as many games, while Guyana Defence Force finished second with 35 points from 10 victories, three drawn games and two losses.
Matthias told Chronicle Sport when the eight associations met with the GFF one week ago at the GFF headquarters to discuss plans for the remainder of the year, Georgetown Football Association’s General Secretary Odinga Lumumba suggested that the top two teams from the 2013/14 National Premier League be automatic qualifiers for the Nations Cup and this was agreed on by all present, meaning Alpha United and GDF will not have to qualify from the Golden Arrowhead Cup to be a part of the 16 teams that will contest the Nation’s Cup.
The other competitions which are also expected to get under way this year are: Inter Sub-Associations Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-21 and Under-23 tournaments.

(By Michael DaSilva)