FIFA Vice President and CONCACAF President, Victor Montagliani, officially opened the country’s U-13 girl’s nationwide football competition on Friday at the Guyana Football Federation National Training Centre.

The competition is set to see 40 primary schools from around the country battling for top honours.
The event was organised to coincide with the first visit of Montagliani with the tournament which is designed to encourage greater female participation in sports, with a focus on nurturing young talent and promoting gender equality in football.

VP Montagliani told the young ladies that women’s football is here to stay and, under his watch, will continue to grow leaps and bounds.
“In football, they say this at FIFA and the media likes to say that the future of football is women’s football but what I really want to tell you is that it’s not the future of football, it’s the present of football and you are an example of that…..I know some of you have aspiration obviously to play for your country or for the next level up but I want to leave you with is that what football will give you is a gift for the rest of your life and connect you with people that also might also allow you to have a career in football on or off the field,” He said.

He said that football is something to be treasured as it can open a world of opportunities and possibilities, adding, “[that] the game is a very rewarding game and you are privileged to play in it and the privilege also that you have a facility like this and a federation that works on your behalf very tirelessly, so I want to thank you because when I watch you here playing it’s an inspiration for me to not only keep going and actually push the envelope even further for your opportunities in our beautiful game.”

GFF president Wayne Forde said that they continue to see the need to invest in football, more so the women’s side of the game which is steadily growing.

“Over the next couple of weeks, we will be formalising the structure for the nationwide secondary school under 13 championship and I know many of you will have a chance to entertain, your class mates, your parents, brothers and sisters and I look forward to coming out to the various venues where the competition is going to be held to witness the exciting football that will be produced,” the GFF boss added.

The tournament is set to be played among 40 school teams in five districts where the Federation has coach clusters working with players.

The competition is set to kick off from October 26.