UEFA commences League Development workshop in Guyana

The capacity of football’s Regional Member Associations (RMAs) and local clubs will again be boosted through assistance from UEFA Assist. This time around, the help has come in the form of education: administrators would be taught how to establish and maintain professional leagues, through a workshop.
After working virtually for quite some time, local football administrators on Saturday got the opportunity to learn the trick of the trade about running professional leagues by way of the UEFA Assist League Development programme clubs’ workshop

The workshop has been realised through the joint efforts of CONCACAF and the Guyana Football Federation (GFF). Speaking at the official opening of the workshop on Saturday morning, GFF President Wayne Forde emphasised the need for such knowledge, especially for establishing sustainable football leagues in Guyana.
“The most important project that we’ve been working over the past couple of years with UEFA on is the professional league development project, and we’ve spent the past couple of months online on zoom. It’s actually the first time that we’re meeting these gentlemen in person,” Forde said.
He added, “We’ve been engaged in many aspects of the planning, and what it will take for Guyana to take that faithful step in establishing a sustainable, professional football league, and I must say it’s been very exciting, the journey that we’ve been on so far.
“At times it appears intimidating because, given where we are as a football nation and where we understand we need to be, it can be daunting. But I think the fact that UEFA is here today to work with you, to share deeper knowledge of what are the changes that are essential if we are to go in the direction of professional football, is a testimony of a collective faith, that together we can do this,” Forde has said.
UEFA’s International Relations Project Specialist Chris Milnes gave an overview of the workshop’s contents.
Milnes highlighted, “Over the next few days, we’re going to be focusing on club development as part of the league development programme that actually started with Joost’s leadership over a year ago now, and because of the pandemic, we hadn’t been able to make these steps that we’re about to make.”
He further stated, “But that doesn’t matter, because we’re all here now today to make this happen. We’re looking forward to also treating this next couple of days as a learning experience, where we learn about your reality here in Guyana and we share best practices from Europe, so that together we can develop football, moving forward.”
The workshop is being conducted by Milnes, alongside UEFA’s Assist’s Joost de Wit at the GFF’s National Training Center, Providence.
Joost emphasised that UEFA Assist was not there to play boss, but rather to boost the knowledge and range of tactics that Guyanese administrators would have.
“It’s not that we’re here to say how you must do things. I just want to show you how in Europe, especially in Holland, where I come from, how we organize clubs, and hopefully you can see how we do that and you can learn from it a little bit,” The UEFA Assist representative said.
“One thing very important is that you are manager of a club, but you have to work with your regional association and with the federation, of course. And if you can work really close together, football in Guyana can go better and better,”
Joost concluded.
Members of Each RMA and several elite clubs are attending the workshop.