KELSEY Benjamin and Ryan Hackett will depart for Canada soon, where the pair will be part of Canadian Premier League (CPL) club Valour FC pre-season training.
The club’s head coach Robert Gale, through Guyanese and Canadian football Hall-of-Famer, Alex Bunbury, had extended an invitation for two U-23 players from Guyana to train with the side in a try-out style training camp.
Two players, who are currently training with Guyana’s senior men’s National football team ahead of their Qatar World Cup Qualifiers, are members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) football club.

Only recently, Bunbury, a legend in Canada but proudly states he’s Guyanese first, was instrumental in Fruta Conquerors’ 19-year-old forward, Nicholas McArthur, securing a full scholarship to Chicago State University ahead of their NCAA Division One football debut.
Gale, who coached Canada’s National Youth teams from 2011 to 2018, said his club is looking forward to working with the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, as they welcome “these young talented Guyana players to our professional club environment. We currently anticipate a mid-April start to pre-season but will stay in contact with Mr Bunbury to finalise all details in line with government COVID-19 protocols.”

The Canadian coach is hoping that “this is the first of many engagements our organisations can have and would like to extend our hospitality to your entire organisation for future Coach and Player Development exchanges as you develop your infrastructure.”
Currently the club has the services of several Caribbean, South America and Central America players from Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Panama, Peru, Costa Rica and Venezuela.
The Pre-season for this year’s Canadian Premier League is set for the first week in April.
However, the season is planned to commence on May 22 pending the approval of government authorities and the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.