PRESIDENT of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Wayne Forde, has called the commissioning of the two buses, gifted to his federation by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), symbolic of their International Relations Strategy, which he noted continues to bode well for the reputation of Guyana as a football nation.

A partnership, which was only recently formalised between GFF and UEFA, has ticked off its first major achievement with Guyana benefitting from the donation of two minibuses through the UEFA Assist Programme.

The UEFA Assist Programme, which was set up in 2017, provides support for the other confederations and their member associations in four specific areas – capacity-building (football and operations), development of youth football, infrastructure projects and helping UEFA’s member associations to create cooperation programmes with associations from outside of Europe.

At the commissioning ceremony on Friday afternoon at the GFF headquarters in Section K, Campbellville, key officials spoke of initiative and how significant it is to the development of local football.

“These strategic partnerships are essential to our quest to acquire badly-needed football development resources along with technical and administration capacity,” Forde told the gathering of reporters and other football officials.

According to GFF president, the “buses were donated by UEFA, and I am so humbled and grateful for this kind gesture. I would therefore like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr Aleksander Ceferin – President of UEFA, for his generous contribution to the Development of Guyana’s Football. I wish to also thank Ms Eva Pasquier and Mr Howard McIntosh for working closely with me over the past year to consolidate the bilateral partnership between the GFF and UEFA.”

Forde pointed out that the buses will contribute to significant savings to the operation of the GFF’s Academy Training Centre (ATC) programme, which will allow the federation to fully implement the next phases of their ground-breaking National Youth Development Structure.

Head of UEFA’s International Relations, Eva Pasquier, noted that the “UEFA Assist programme is proud to support the GFF in their continuous effort to develop football in the country. When we learnt that there are young players walking for hours to play the game and then they walk back, the provision of the minibuses is just a perfect thing to do – bringing people and football together.”

Howard McIntosh, One CONCACAF and Caribbean Project Senior Manager, reasoned that the confederation’s governing body was “proud to facilitate any collaborative efforts in the Region to assist in the development of the beautiful game. This gift will help GFF to continue its many programmes which have yielded success for GFF and Guyana.”

Contributing to the development of football has long been one of UEFA’s central objectives. UEFA Assist aims to increase solidarity and enhance football development to tackle the needs of national associations and confederations outside Europe.

Over the years, UEFA has demonstrated its commitment to reinforcing relationships with other confederations by providing ad hoc support and signing memorandums of understanding with all five of its sister confederations.

UEFA Assist institutionalises this ongoing support of other associations and confederations in terms of knowledge-sharing and football development.

The main scope of UEFA Assist is essentially to share knowledge and best practices to help UEFA’s sister confederations to develop and strengthen football within their respective territories. UEFA Assist is designed to provide practical assistance and offer support through development activities.

Capacity-building (operations and football), Development of Youth football, Infrastructure and UEFA member association support are listed as the four pillars of the programme, with each providing specific support to member associations and confederations worldwide.