THE Guyana Football Federation (GFF), at the Pegasus Suites, on Friday evening,honoured and celebrated with its partners and stakeholders at a farewell reception for the FIFA Vice- President and CONCACAF head, Victor Montagliani who visited Guyana.
Victor Montagliani said he was pleased with the work being done in Guyana by the GFF and promised the support from CONCACAF in raising the bar for the sport.
He commended the sponsors and supporters of the football brand in the country.

“You can build facilities, which is obviously important, you can run programmes which is important; you have to have partnerships which are important and kudos go to your corporate community………it is obvious to me over the course of today (Friday) that it’s not a transactional relationship. Too often partners or sponsors are transactional relationship but here it’s obvious they have been brought in”.
He encouraged the GFF to keep a ‘football first’ philosophy and to continue building the game.

“For those of you that have played the game or been around the game, or seen your children play, when teams are successful is because there is a sense of family in the locker room and they will bleed for each other because family is not just blood family is people you will bleed for and that is how I was raised in football.
Football has to be family and every decision you make as a leader in this game has to be a football first philosophy because the game takes care of itself; if you take care of the game, it will take care of the stakeholders”.

Meanwhile, President of the Guyana Football Federation, Wayne Forde, said that discussions with the CONCACAF head and his Excellency Dr Irfaan Ali earlier on Friday inspired them to soar higher.
“We had an inspiring conversation with President Ali, where he once again recommitted his government and personal support to the development of football and we explored the possibilities of future collaborations between the GFF, the Government of Guyana and CONCACAF. I believe we will take concrete steps over the next couple of weeks and months to deliver on some of FIFA VP and CONCACAF President Montagliani’s suggested projects.
The GFF used the occasion to honour sponsors BACIF, Guyana beverage Inc., as well as a host of football officials locally for their unwavering support during the year.