Guyana’s appearance at the 2024 CONCACAF Futsal Championship will come in the form of referee Colin Abel, who has been selected to officiate during the tournament that will be held from April 13th-20th at the Polideportivo Alexis Arguello in Managua, Nicaragua.
This was confirmed by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) in a press release. Abel said, “I am deeply humbled and honoured to receive such an appointment. I am excited to represent myself and my country at such a prestigious event, and I look forward to gaining as much knowledge and experience as possible and also interacting with my fellow colleagues from Concacaf.”
According to the regional confederation CONCACAF, Abel is part of a 30-member officiating crew, which will comprise 24 referees and six assessors.
He is the only member from an English-speaking CFU nation, as the list comprises representatives from Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Suriname, and the United States of America. Abel is among the four FIFA-accredited officials in Guyana. The others are FIFA Assistant Referee Kleon Lindey, lone female FIFA Assistant Referee Denisha Isaacs, and FIFA Referee Shavin Greene.
Guyana will once again not feature at the event, as the local confederation confirmed the 12 nations that will contest the 2024 edition. This is the second consecutive tournament that Guyana will not appear in, despite not having a qualification competition.
Guyana did not participate in the 2021 edition in Guatemala, which also did not have a prior qualification process.
Guyana participated in the 2016 qualifiers, finishing with a record of one win and two losses in Havana, Cuba. Guyana defeated Antigua and Barbuda 3-2 in their final fixture but lost to Curacao 2-5 and Trinidad and Tobago 3-4 in their earlier matches.
The 2016 Guyana roster, which comprised locally-based players, included Travis Bess, Richard Reynolds, Konata Manning, Sherwin Skeete, Jermin Junior, Solomon Austin, Eusi Phillips, Jerome Richardson, Daniel Favourite, and Travis Grant.
The management team consisted of Joseph Wilson (head coach), Claude Bolton (technical director), Denzil Thompson (goalkeeper coach), and Mark Younge (team manager).
Meanwhile, the 12 countries were divided into three groups of four. Group A comprises three-time defending champion Costa Rica, Mexico, Suriname, and Haiti, while Group B contains Panama, Cuba, Canada, and Nicaragua. Group C is made up of Guatemala, the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Dominican Republic.
“The tournament will begin with a group stage. After round-robin play, the group winners, runners-up, and the two best-placed third-place finishers will advance to the knockout stage. At the conclusion of the event, the top four finishers (semifinalists) will qualify for the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024,” CONCACAF stated.
