One Guyana President’s Cup: Groups decided for GFF’s National Championships
The One Guyana President’s Cup inter-ward tournament is heading into the exciting stages, with the draw for the National Championships having been conducted on Tuesday afternoon by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) at the National Cultural Centre on Homestretch Avenue in Georgetown.
With three of the country’s administrative regions yet to complete their respective inter-ward stage, the national leg, wherein a group of 25 players would be selected to represent each of Guyana’s 10 administrative Regions, is tentatively set to commence this weekend.
Stakeholders are eager to witness this stage of the tournament. One such person is GFF President Wayne Forde, who underscored the benefits this new format presents.
“I am expecting that, as we’re seeing with the 2022 FIFA World Cup, there’re going to be many surprises, and I believe that those surprises will add a special flavour to the One Guyana President’s Cup,” Forde shared during a press briefing after the draw was conducted.
“I know that young players who have been off of the football grid because of the communities and the regions that they’re from have now been given a chance to participate in a national tournament under the gaze of the national team coach and the national team-scouting staff.”
Forde has emphasised, “And when one considers the fact that, for many years, the narrative across our football spectrum (has been) that we’re only selecting players from Region 4; Region 10; those regions that are renowned for playing a lot of football; to me, this tournament here balances out this concern in a very, very good way.”
National Sports Commission (NSC) Chairman Kashif Muhammad, speaking about his years of organizing yearend tournaments with the Kashif and Shanghai organisation, has opined that the K&S have finally been able to execute their vision. This renowned football organizer remarked, “I applaud the idea by the President, because when the Kashif and Shanghai, back in the days, about 32 years ago, got started with this, we had never envisioned this situation. As we came along, we tried to do many, many things, one was to try to see how best we could’ve gotten players in the ‘big time’, and we’ve sent 56 players abroad to experience professional football.
“We had some outstanding guys, and we began building, but we were always hoping that, one day, a type of injection could come to the tournament to make it really explode into something solid for Guyana’s football. We think this is happening right now,” Muhammad declared.
In the draw, in which Golden Jaguars Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz assisted with the picks, Regions: 4 (Demerara-Mahaica), 6 (East Berbice-Corentyne), 7 (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), 8 (Potaro-Siparuni), and 9 (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) found themselves in Group A.
Group B consists of Regions: 1 (Barima-Waini), 2 (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 3 (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 5 (Mahaica-Berbice), and 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
A round-robin format would be played before the teams move into the knockout stage leading up to the anticipated final. The winner of the National Championships, the final game of which would be held on January 1, 2023 at a venue that is yet to be announced, would pocket $2M in addition to other incentives, such as prize monies for semifinalists, game winners, and a standard payment. In addition, the tournament’s MVP would receive one house lot from the Government of Guyana.