FIFA Director of Development Mary Harvey will be among the featured guests at the 30th annual Caribbean Football Union Congress in Curacao from Sunday.
Over 30 Caribbean Football Members and more than 100 delegates from around the region will meet to map out the future of Caribbean Football development.
Digicel, long-time supporters of Caribbean football and proud sponsors of the Digicel Caribbean Cup are stepping in to support the success of the congress through their sponsorship of the CFU Congress Annual dinner and support toward delegates participating.
The Congress which will open on Sunday in Willemstad will last for four days of intense forums, workshops and meetings to better plan and progress the development of football across the Caribbean .
According to CFU President Jack Warner, “The CFU Congress is the centerpiece in the CFU’s official calendar year. At this year’s congress we will be looking at ways in which we can build upon the fantastic success of the Digicel Caribbean Cup 2006/2007 which was the largest Caribbean football tournament ever. It was bigger in every aspect from the number of countries that competed, the number of games played, the number of host countries and the amount of prize money that was won.
“We are very fortunate to have had over the past years such a strong and co-operative commercial partners such as Digicel to help us leverage this passion and appetite for football in the region. I’m delighted that our strong working relationship has developed so positively and to the massive benefit of football in the Caribbean ” added Jack Warner.
Digicel took up sponsorship of the Digicel Caribbean Cup in 2004, which is the only qualifying process for Caribbean national teams for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and its unprecedented investment has lead to the growth of the tournament. The Caribbean mobile operator is also sponsor of a number of national football teams such as Jamaica , Haiti , El Salvador , Barbados and Turks & Caicos
Additionally this year Digicel became title sponsors of the Central American Gold Cup qualifier, the Copa Naciones de Digicel 2007 and is now leveraging its involvement in both Caribbean and Central American football to arrange a series of three international matches during the March FIFA window time frame: Guadeloupe vs Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados vs Guatemala and Jamaica vs Panama.
Digicel Group Marketing Director, Ben Atherton added: “From the beginning Digicel has wanted to be more than just financial investors but rather play an integral role in the development of Caribbean football. We are proud of the strong partnerships we have developed with football federations across the region.
“The CFU Annual Congress is an important forum to build on and we are delighted to strengthen our relationships with the Caribbean football federations through our support.”
Also attending the congress will be officials of the CFU Offices in Trinidad as well as the TTFF including President Oliver Camps, General Secretary Richard Groden and other officials.
Following the week of activities in Curacao, Harvey will fly to Trinidad where she is also a featured guest at the March 30 official opening of the new FIFA Goal Project 2 FIFA two-star artificial football turf at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Centre of Excellence. (March 23, 2007)
