The Guyana Football Federation plans to establish a national network of FIFA Arena Mini-Pitches over the next four years as it seeks to provide more young players with quality facilities, qualified coaching and regular playing opportunities.
Multiple mini-pitches are expected to be installed across each of the GFF’s Regional Associations under an infrastructure-development programme being advanced in partnership with FIFA.
One of the first facilities is currently being developed at Retrieve, Linden, where GFF President Wayne Forde and members of the Federation’s Council recently conducted a site inspection.
The officials examined the completed sub-base construction, which was undertaken by B&J Civil Work. The visit formed part of the Federation’s quality assurance process ahead of the formal sign-off.
The project will be approved once the completed work is satisfactorily verified. A FIFA construction team is expected in Guyana next week to install the specialised playing surface, turf and associated facilities.
The Retrieve pitch is one of two facilities donated to Guyana under the Global FIFA Arena initiative. The second has been allocated to the East Coast Demerara Football Association and will be installed at Haslington.
The initiative supports FIFA’s Football for Schools programme and is expected to improve access to football infrastructure for schools, grassroots programmes and surrounding communities.
The facilities will also support the GFF’s Youth Ensemble Programme, which was introduced earlier this year to widen structured youth development and create more opportunities for young players. More than 4,000 boys from all nine Regional Associations have already participated.
Forde said the strong turnout shows that there is significant demand for structured football opportunities.
“Through our partnership with FIFA and the Global FIFA Arena initiative, we are expanding access to quality football infrastructure while strengthening programmes such as Football for Schools and our Youth Ensemble Programme,” he said.
“The participation of more than 4,000 young boys this year demonstrates the significant demand that exists for these opportunities.”
According to Forde, constructing facilities must be supported by programmes that allow young people to use them regularly.
“Building quality facilities is important but ensuring that young people have structured opportunities to use them is equally important,” he said.
The Federation intends to work with FIFA, Regional Associations, schools, communities and other stakeholders to ensure the facilities are fully utilised and incorporated into its broader football-development system.
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