Following the deadline of May 11th for clubs applying directly to the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) for the CONCACAF Elite Club Licensing, the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) reportedly leads the list of national aspirants with seven submissions.
According to reliable sources within the FIFA Normalization Committee-controlled body, the entity has received 12 club applications from five associations for the licence which will be valid for one season of competition.
The certificate which will be required for all clubs participating in the inaugural Elite League for the 2015/2016 season, will expire on July 31st 2016.
The sources disclosed that the four other affiliates are the Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA), East Coast Football Association (ECFA), Berbice Football Association (BFA) and West Demerara Football Association (WDFA).
According to the sources, the seven applicants that fall under the umbrella of the GFA are the Georgetown Football Club (GFC), Western Tigers, Riddim Squad, Alpha United, Pele FC, Fruta Conquerors and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).
The sources revealed that Buxton United and Victoria Kings are the applicants from the EDFA while Vergenoegen giants Bakewell Slingerz FC is the sole applicant from the WDFA. Rounding out the 12 hopefuls are Linden unit Topp XX and Monedderlust FC from the UDFA and BFA respectively.
The sources further revealed that the Licensing Committee after reviewing the necessary documentation submitted by the teams, will be make recommendations as to which clubs should qualify for the licence.
The sources said that Lawrence Griffith is the Licensing Manager of the body while the other members of the committee are Robert Fernandes Jr., Kashif Muhammad, Rawlston Adams, Franklin Wilson, Richard Groden and Diedre Davis.
According to the sources, the applicants will be shortlisted to eight teams and will be announced on Monday May 25th by the federation.
The CONCACAF Club Licensing System falls under the FIFA Licensing system and is based on five core criteria which are Sporting, Personnel and Administrative, Financial, Infrastructure and Legal.
These fundamental criteria are further broken down into several sub-criteria, most of which must be fulfilled in order to qualify for the important certification.
The certification is to safeguard the credibility and integrity of the club tournaments while improving the overall level of professionalism within sport. It is also implemented to promote transparency in the ownership, finances and overall control of clubs.
According to FIFA, the adopting of the club licensing policy at the zonal and member association level is a long term initiative that is geared towards providing vital necessities and minimum standards to enhance the quality of club competitions.
FIFA further said that the benefits for the clubs, leagues and member associations at the end of the process include a higher level of club management, better level of home-grown players, higher level of play, an increase of fans and revenues and an overall improvement in the quality of the national team programmes.
