Recently, our Confederation, CONCACAF announced a program titled “Win in CONCACAF with CONCACAF," which is another initiative under FIFA’s global outreach program following the successful launch of “Win in Africa with Africa,” in celebration of the first World Cup to be staged on the continent of Africa in 2010.
It may or not have come as a surprise to some that Bermuda was not included in the initial list of 11 countries to benefit from this inaugural program, namely Barbados, Belize, El Salvador, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname and Trinidad with the aim being to assist with the total and comprehensive development of the professional leagues in those respective countries. Whilst CONCACAF is unable to indicate at the current moment exactly when this program and in what format other countries will be able to participate, the Bermuda FA is very mindful that not every one of the 40 nations associated with our Confederation will benefit at the same time.
However, while the focus with the present initiative centers on developing and strengthening the professional leagues in those 11 countries mentioned above, FIFA through our association with CONCACAF has just recently reaffirmed its commitment to the allocation of development resources to all its member associations through its regional Development Offices to include the continuation of the Financial Assistance Program (FAP), Referee Assistance Program (RAP), Com-Unity Program, various other development programs covering coaching, refereeing, management / administration and sports medicine under the FUTURO III and Member Association Division just to name but a few. FIFA has also extended its GOAL Program to Phase 3, with the Bermuda FA having already benefited from Phases 1 & 2. It is our intention to submit our Phase 3 plan to FIFA prior to the month of September 2009. The exact particulars of this Phase will be announced at a later date.
