Belize’s Young Football Athletes Meet FIFA President

Good evening, I am Paul Lopez with this week’s installment of Sports Monday proudly brought to you by the National Sports Council of Belize. FIFA is hosting its Under Fifteen World Cup Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan and Belize is well represented. Not only did Team Belize overcome Curacao in a match that ended three goals to two, but the team also got to meet FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the tournament. FFB President Sergio Chuc travelled along with them. Here is what he had to say about Infantino’s commitment to the development of the sporting discipline.

 

Sergio Chuc, President, FIFA

“It is very clear that President Infantino is committed to the development of football, brining all these countries together with their U-15 teams means that he is looking towards the future with the young players. Having all these young players here is giving them an exposure that they would traditionally not get. I think the president has shown that in the last ten years that he is committed to the development of football all around the world. The commitment that he brought with FIFA Forward, every cycle increasing the budget and this cycle is no different. So, I think his commitment is obvious to everybody.”

 

Team Belize also went up against other countries, such as Liberia, Morocco, Philippines and Costa Rica, just to name a few. Beyond the outcome of the matches, the experience on and off the field is certainly invaluable.

 

The Premier Women’s League of Belize continued over the weekend with three matches. Inside the FFB Stadium, Napoles FC went up against Jewel Fury FC in a match that ended four goals to one, with Jayda Brown, Roshanny Narvaez and Ximena Flores scoring for Napoles, while Shayla’ Lee Flowers scored for Jewel Fury FC.

 

Belize participated in the CODICADER Disability Games in Guatemala from October twenty-fifth to October thirty-first, where we secured two bronze medals. Our first bronze was in the mixed relay. The second bronze was secured by Rodrigo Pauu of Julian Cho Technical Highschool in the 400m race.

 

And finally, Belize made history with its first appearance at the FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup Qualifiers Stage. Belize fielded four player, Glency Lopez, Charles Garcia, Shane Pratt and Phillip Fayne II. Belize went head-to-head with Dominican Republic in the opening matched and lost that one twenty-one to fifteen baskets. Guatemala, on the other hand, was no match for Belize. That one ended twenty to fifteen baskets in favor of our men. We also defeated Colombia in dominant fashion, twenty-one to ten. That two to one record locked team Belize in a three-way tie with Dominican Republic and Guatemala. The DR advanced based on point differential. Sports Monday extends its congratulations to Lopez, Garcia, Pratt and Fayne for their historic representation at this tournament. It is only up from here.

 

Well folks, that is all we have for you in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday proudly brought to you by the National Sports Council of Belize. Catch you in the next one.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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