ALPHA United Football Club will commence quest for honours in this year’s Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championship with a game against Suriname’s Inter Moengotapoe on April 17 at the Guyana National Stadium. Alpha president Odinga Lumumba said his club has successfully negotiated the hosting of Group One matches in Guyana and is eager to lock horns with the Dutch team who have remained a thorn in Alpha’s side. Inter Moengotapoe have upstaged Guyana’s number one club in their last five meetings.

The Dutch team play Central Football Club of Trinidad and Tobago – the other team in Group One – on April 19 at the same venue while Group matches come to an end on April 21 when Alpha return for a match against the Trinidadians.
The hosting of the three matches is expected to cost $10M and Lumumba is optimistic that it will be a smooth run.
“We were granted permission to host these matches because of our track record. CFU and CONCACAF know that we have the ability to manage such activity. We have done it before and are up to the task,” Lumumba declared.
“There is a $10M price tag for hosting. However, CFU would be contributing $3M (US$15 000). We are left to come up with the remaining $7M,” the club president added.
The Guyana Defence Force will join Alpha as the teams from Guyana participating in the prestigious CFU tournament. Both teams have side-stepped major local competitions in order to properly prepare for the competition.
Alpha opted out of the Mayor’s Cup while GDF pulled out of the 25th edition of the Kashif and Shanghai competition, set to commence today.
Alpha United’s participation in the CFU contest took priority over involvement in any local tournament hence the withdrawal from the Mayor’s Cup, Lumumba had declared.
The CFU Club Championship is an annual competition involving top clubs from member countries. The top three teams from the CFU will qualify to the CONCACAF Champions League. Last year, Alpha United topped Group Three in the CFU tournament.
The group included Trinidad Defence Force, Sporting Notch of Suriname and Harbour View of Jamaica. All Group matches were played in Jamaica.