JUST under a week ago, CONCACAF confirmed Guatemala as the host for the 2021 CONCACAF Futsal Championship, which is billed for May 3 – 9, 2021.

The 2020 CONCACAF Futsal Championship would have been the 7th edition of the quadrennial international futsal championship organised by CONCACAF for the men’s national teams of the North and Central America and Caribbean region.

However, on 19 March 2020, CONCACAF announced the decision to postpone the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Same as previous editions, the tournament acted as the CONCACAF qualifiers for the FIFA Futsal World Cup. The top four teams of the tournament qualified for the next FIFA Futsal World Cup.

According to the tournament rules for the CONCACAF edition, which has 41 teams capable of participating: “The highest-ranked 12 entrants advanced directly to the group stage of the final tournament, while the lowest-ranked eight entrants had to participate in the qualifying stage, where the four match-up winners advanced to the group stage of the final tournament.”

Of the 41-member associations, Guyana is currently ranked 12^th as of February 2020, but has never entered the tournament for the simple fact that they do not have a futsal team.

According to the Guyana Football Federation’s (GFF) calendar of events for 2021, the GFF Futsal Tournaments are proposed for February and August for the Senior Men, but with the pandemic still in effect, it is quite difficult to say when the Federation’s plans can unfold.

However, the Federation has the next four years to prepare for the CONCACAF event since the ‘ship has sailed’ with this edition. The only foreseeable obstacle that can prevent the progression of this form of football is the pandemic.

<<Guyana’s Futsal…>>

Futsal has been around for quite some time, but the most popular of the lot by far on Guyana’s calendar is the Guinness Greatest of the Streets. The well-organised tournament has progressed until it reached a National level where, without a doubt, the best Futsal players and teams in Guyana could be decided.

Guinness Greatest of the Street began in 2008 and it has since seen thousands off footballers and spectators over that period. That would have been an opportune time for the GFF to put a firm hand on the sport, but they have only now begun.

In 2008, Guyana participated in the Caribbean Football Union (2008) Futsal Championship with a hastily assembled squad. It was not until eight years later that the Federation tried to enter the championship again.

Prior to the 2016 CONCACAF Futsal Qualifiers, the GFF website stated: “The most pressing challenge at the moment is the lack of any facility that the GFF can frequent regularly.

Without digressing into the everyday struggles to utilize what is in Guyana, let us just highlight that the present culture does not fully understand that this form of football does not place any added stress on an indoor facility than does other traditional indoor sports.”

Despite that, it continued: “We will move to create a footballing schedule that will integrate the game over the course of the next 4 years.  We will here, too, strive for perfection.  Any success on the international Futsal stage will add to the positive psychological reinforcements so necessary in creating an environment conducive to success.”

All the evidence shows that there was not a solid enough Futsal structure to keep the sport progressing, but kudos to the local Federation for finally mapping a path for Futsal to move forward.