Guinea-Bissau’s new Football Federation boss – Guilherma Farinha – is hoping to bring a breath of fresh air to football in the country.
The Portuguese coach, who was recently appointed national technical director for the Football Federation has said he wants to relaunch the sport, by creating a national team to compete for a place in the next U-17 FIFA World Cup.
For now, Farinha is focused on a tournament to capture and nurture talent in Bissau, which will later be concentrated on the interior of the country. The agenda is to identify players who will then become the future of the U-15 national team.
”If we did a good job in the ’90s, now in 2020, 2021 and so on, we want to do more and better. It is the ambition, of my team, of my colleagues and of all the staff”, Farinha said in his aspirations of reviving grassroots football in Guinea-Bissau.
This talent selection process will be extended to Guinean players in the diaspora, with a focus on Portugal, according to Carlos Teixeira, the president of the Guinean football federation.
Teixeira, is in full support of the ambitious target set by Guilherme Farinha. He said they aim to attract “the ‘giants’ of world soccer” to the West African nation.
“I want to make an appeal to the parents and guardians of our countrymen, our players in the diaspora, to collaborate so that we can all make a better Guinea-Bissau team so that in four, five years Real Madrid, Barcelona, those giants of Europe, will come here to hire our players”, Teixeira said.
In the meantime, the Football Federation aims to form an under-15 team for the West African Football Union match to be held in Bissau, in May.
He will immediately begin work on the future under-15 selection team.
