The formidable Fruta Conquerors and the Guyana Defence Force will battle for championship honours in the Women’s Development Football League Playoff, at the Police Sports Club Ground, Eve Leary, on Wednesday evening.
Coaches of both teams and Technical Director of the Guyana Football Federation, Bryan Joseph, spoke on the rise of women’s football in Guyana, and what lies ahead in the titanic fixture.
The Tucville outfit brushed aside Pakuri Warriors by an 8-2 score-line in the first semi-final fixture. Jalade Trim led the rout with five goals while Jessica Teasdale netted a brace. Adding to the score was Shanic Thornhill.
Coach of the team, Delon Williams said they are up for the big moment and ready for the challenge.
Meanwhile, GDF edged Guyana Police Force (GPF) 1-0 in the second semi-final matchup and they expect another battling encounter according to their coach, Seon Prince.
The league was launched in June 2022 with 37 teams from across Guyana to give players much-needed time on the pitch to showcase their skills in order to be chosen for national programmes and to secure footballing scholarship opportunities outside of Guyana.
MVP Sports representative, Selvin Apple, noted that the company understands “our social responsibility when it comes to dealing with soccer in the country. Our Chief Executive Officer [Ian Ramdeo] is always passionate about sponsoring football events.”
Women’s Football Association (WFA) President Andrea Johnson again congratulated the Guyana Defence Force FC and Fruta Conquerors FC for booking their place in the final and noted that Guyana has seen a high level of talent in women’s football over the last few weeks.
“We saw talented female footballers from as far Orealla and Moruca. Twelve teams made it to the play-off and tomorrow a winner will be crowned. I’m pleased with the quality of football we’ve seen over the past weeks and our female players can only get better with more play time and that’s what the GFF’s Council and the Women’s Association are working towards.”
She added: “Tomorrow’s final promises to be an exciting one, everyone has their favourite and so I want to encourage you to come and support your favourite team. Thanks again to MVP Sports for making this possible and I encourage and welcome other stakeholders to get on board.”
Additionally, Joseph said that the league was organized to ensure women in football have real opportunities on and off the pitch.
“Women’s football is definitely on the rise in Guyana when we look at the quality of our games now we can definitely see that there are improvements and this is coming on the back of the work that is being done by the Guyana Football Federation to ensure that there are enough opportunities for women to play,” Joseph stressed.
The final kicks off at 20:00h while the third-place match from 18:00h is between the Guyana Police Force and Pakuri Warriors.
