GUYANA’S Golden Jaguars (senior men’s national football team) will roar into action in September when they host Barbados in the qualifiers for the newly-established CONCACAF Nation’s League.

The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACF) yesterday announced the details and structure of the Nations League, a new centralised men’s national team competition representing a new era of national team football for CONCACAF member associations (MA).

The CONCACAF Nations League begins in September with a one-off qualifying phase, while the group phase, consisting of three-tiered leagues will kick off in 2019.
The top league will end with a final to crown the Nations League champions and the competition will also serve to unify the qualifying path for the region’s national teams to the newly-expanded Gold Cup.

With matches being played on the FIFA dates between September 2018 and March 2019, Guyana, after their clash with Barbados, will then travel to Turks and Caicos for a meeting between the two countries in October, followed by an encounter against French Guiana in November before hosting Belize in March, 2019.

Ian Greenwood, Technical Director of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), described the draw as a positive and competitive one for the Golden Jaguars, stating that “we (GFF) feel we have the ability to perform against each opposition”.

“We’re excited for our tough visit to French Guiana but feel we have the players to rise to this occasion and come out on top. Belize should be an interesting game but with home advantage and the support of a packed stadium that will help us over the line,” Greenwood said.

Greenwood also pointed out that the launch of the CONCACCAF Nations League opens a consistent level of competition to further develop the standard of international football in the region.

Meanwhile, Victor Montagliani, president of CONCACAF, speaking at the draw in Miami, USA, told the gathering of journalists and other representatives from the 34 participating countries, that “the launch of the CONCACAF Nations League, conceived over the last two years and guided by the ONE CONCACAF principles of unity and access for our region’s football, is the defining moment marking the completion of our transition into a new era for our 41-member CONCACAF family.”

The CONCACAF boss posited, “The Nations League assures that all our members will have the opportunity to play more and compete more, which in turn will propel greater development of the sport at every level.”

The inaugural CONCACAF Nations League competition will be played in the official FIFA match windows in September, October and November, 2019 with a Final Championship to be played in March 2020.
All eligible CONCACAF member associations will be assigned by sporting performance into three leagues: A, B and C.

Each league will be sub-divided into groups, in which the participating member associations will compete in a home-and-away, round-robin format over the course of the group phase. Nations League scheduling will be centralised in a fan-friendly, evenly-distributed “week of football” format, allowing viewers across the region to enjoy quality international football matches at a variety of kickoff times each day for the entire match window.

League A will contain four groups of three teams. The winner of each League A group will qualify to the CONCACAF Nations League Final Championship, which will determine the champions of the new competition.

The teams at the bottom of each League A group will be relegated to League B for the next edition of the tournament.

League B will contain four groups of four teams. The winner of each League B group will be promoted to League A, and the bottom team of each League B group will be relegated to League C for the next edition. League C will consist of the remaining MAs divided into four groups. The winner of each League C group will be promoted to League B.

The first edition of the CONCACAF Nations League will begin with a one-off CONCACAF Nations League Qualifying phase, which will determine which teams are assigned to each league.

By virtue of having qualified for the Hexagonal Round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Russia 2018, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, the United States and Trinidad & Tobago have earned the right to be seeded directly into League A, and therefore will not participate in Nations League Qualifying.

In view of the ongoing suspension imposed by FIFA, Guatemala will not be able to participate in CONCACAF Nations League Qualifying.