Positive COVID-19 tests force GFF to halt women’s U-17 training programme

The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has halted the local training of the Women’s U17 programme following the discovery of two positive COVID-19 cases among their provisional locally based player pool last week.

This was confirmed by an official statement from the federation yesterday.

According to the release, “As the GFF continues to work assiduously to ensure that all players and staff remain safe during this unprecedented time of this ongoing pandemic, it is imperative that the COVID-19 protocols as approved by the National COVID-19 Task Force be strictly adhered to, including the weekly testing of players. In relation to our National U17 team that is in preparation for the Concacaf U17 Qualifiers, on receipt of the test results, it was noted that two of the players had returned a positive test result.

“Please note the following actions that immediately ensued: (1.) The Team Manager immediately informed the parents, and was advised that they were also informed by the Ministry of Health. (2.) Training was immediately suspended. (3.) The other players were retested seven days later. (4.) The GFF continues to conduct weekly testing for all of the players of the National Teams currently in training. (5.) The GFF continues to encourage all players and staff to be vaccinated. In the Interest of confidentiality the GFF does not publicize the names of players or officials who have returned positive test results.”

The local U17 contingent, who is currently under the supervision of Akilah Castello, trains four days a week at the National Training Centre, Providence. Those days are usually Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Stabroek Sport understands that training for the U17 team did not occur for the entirety of last week after the two girls on the team tested positive for COVID-19 days prior.

The two positive cases are reportedly players from Georgetown.

According to reports, this is the first case of players testing positive for the women’s programme locally.

The GFF tests regularly since the training started in August.

The players were tested as recently as September 25th after having been tested around the period of September 15th-20th.

The players, Stabroek Sport understands, are reimbursed for transportation.

The qualifiers for the 2022 Concacaf Women’s Under17 Championship (CWU17C) will take place from October 20th-November 1st at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL, USA.

Guyana has been drawn in group D alongside the likes of Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia and Guadeloupe.

Group A contains Saint Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, US Virgin Islands and Suriname while Group B features Barbados, Curaçao, Belize and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Group C comprises Honduras, Cayman Islands, Anguilla and Turks and Caicos Islands.

Upon the end of the group round, the respective groups winners will advance to the Championship’s Knockout Stage and receive a bye to the Round of 16.

The 2022 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 championship is scheduled to take place in the first quarter of the year.

The top ranked 16 teams participating in the group stage of the championships will be divided into four groups. After round-robin play, the top three teams in

Akilah Castello each pool will progress to the round of 16, joining the four Qualifier group winners.

A direct elimination format will decide the eventual winner of the tournament. Similarly, the winner, runnerup, and third place finisher will qualify for the 2022 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in India scheduled for October 11th-30th 2022.