IT was dubbed one of the best things to ever happen to football in Guyana, probably in the last decade, when Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) president Gianni

Infantino turned the sod yesterday for the country’s first FIFA Forward Programme (formally FIFA Goal Project).

In 2015, under the Clinton Urling-led Normalisation Committee, the GFF officially signed a 30-year lease agreement with the Eccles/Ramsberg Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) for the Providence Community Centre ground which will be the site for the multi-million US dollars facility.
Infantino, in the presences of Hon. Nicolette Henry, Minister within the Ministry of Education and GFF president Wayne Forde, said the facility “will change the football landscape in Guyana and not only football but the society because we know the value of football and what football can do for the people.”

The Italian, who was voted in as the ninth FIFA president in February last year, lauded the Wayne Forde-GFF for what he (Infantino) said is ‘thinking big’.
“They are dreaming big and what’s important is that they are putting it into practice and that’s encouraging to FIFA,” the FIFA boss noted.
Asked by Chronicle Sport what guarantee will be given to the people of Guyana who are wary of seeing and hearing about the possible first home for football here, Infantino responded, “The guarantee is Wayne (Forde). It’s a new team; they work with the same principle like we do. Of course in the past, more things happened in FIFA more than anywhere else; just to have things done in a proper way.”

Guyana’s FIFA Forward Programme history
In 1999, Guyana, Belize, The Bahamas, Nicaragua and St Lucia were listed as countries to benefit from FIFA’s new initiative, the ‘Goal Project’.
The year 2001 saw former FIFA president Blatter visit Guyana reportedly for the historic turning of the sod for what was thought to be this country’s first football stadium on land under the control of the University of Guyana.
But Blatter had stated that the building of stadiums was the responsibility of governments and subsequently revealed that FIFA would contribute some US$400 000 once the GFF is able to acquire the necessary land.

The local football federation struggled for years to acquire a piece of land from the Government of Guyana until Moroccan Alami Binani made available to them a piece of land at Orangestein, East Bank Essequibo.
After Klass was suspended during 2011 in the famous ‘Cash for Votes’ scandal, the project was shelved with only a land clearing exercise ever conducted.
Under Klass’ successor, Franklin Wilson, the GFF acquired US$500 000 funding for the resuscitation of the project after initially being allocated US$400 000.

Christopher Matthias, elected to the GFF top post in 2013, discarded the Orangestein land due to the uncertainty surrounding its ownership and the distance from the capital city.
He then engaged the government in an attempt to acquire land behind the Leonora Track and Field Facility, but nothing came to fruition as the government allegedly offered less than four acres which was not approved by the world governing body.