GUYANA’S leading football club Alpha United has written to the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) requesting that the team be given a bye into the second round of the CFU Club Championship set to kick off next month.
Club president Odinga Lumumba reasoned that since Alpha qualified for the last CONCACAF Club Championship, the local team should be exempted from the CFU first round.
“We have written asking that Alpha United be given a bye into the second round. Our decision was based on the fact that we qualified for the last CONCACAF Club Championship. It is our belief that we should be given automatic bye,” Lumumba said
The Caribbean Championship is an annual competition hosted by CFU involving top clubs from member countries. Leading teams from the CFU competition qualify for the CONCACAF tournament
Last year, Alpha United topped Group Three which included Trinidad Defence Force, Sporting Notch of Suriname and Harbour View of Jamaica. All Group matches were played in Jamaica and Alpha’s performance earned them a place in the CONCACAF Championships.
In addition, Lumumba revealed that his club indicated its willingness to host a round of the CFU competition in Guyana.
“We have written asking to host a leg of the CFU championships here and I am quite optimistic that we will have a favourable response.” Meanwhile, the team commenced training for the regional tournament on Tuesday.