BLUE Water Shipping and Guyana Football Federation (GFF) yesterday signed a five-year agreement for the hosting of the country’s first Girls’ U15 Developmental League.

At the signing which took place at the Pegasus Hotel, GFF president Wayne Forde announced that the tournament will start in April, featuring teams from across the federation’s member associations and possibly schools.

In August of this year, Guyana will be participating in the CONCACAF U15 Girls’ Championship and, according to Forde, “it is so timely that we are being given the opportunity through the generous sponsorship of Blue Water to launch this developmental league, from which we will be selecting those national team players who will represent the Golden Arrowhead”.

“Football is very important to our community and for a company that prides itself on investing in people, to take that faithful step and announce their presence in Guyana through the investment in young girls, it’s something that we all can admire,” Forde said, before going on to thank the shipping company for its long-term commitment towards the development of women’s football in Guyana.

Blue Water Shipping’s Country Manager, Richard De Nobrega, explained that the company takes great pride in supporting the GFF, adding “anything that brings a community together, especially in Guyana, we know how dear football is to our country. Anything that brings us together and gives young people an opportunity to display their talent, Blue Water is more than happy.”

“Sports and football especially are very close to our company’s culture. We feel very privileged to be part of this initiative, we feel very proud to be doing this in Guyana where we can give young people the opportunity that they might not have had before to be part of a sport that they love, a sport that has been key to Guyana’s development on the sporting arena globally,” De Nobrega said.

He said this is the start of a long partnership between his company and GFF. “We look forward to the talent that this development league will bring. This will be the Launchpad for the selection of a national team for the CONCACAF tournament and for the young ladies who are going to be a part, this is an opportunity for them to showcase themselves to the world.”