The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The rising structure of the new beach soccer facility looms large at Malcolm Park West as the completion date draws near and the Bahamas prepares to host a pair of major events.

The Bahamas is 46 days away from hosting the 2017 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championships (February 20-27) which is expected to be a test event for April’s FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

“The stadium development is in progress every day,” said Jason McDowell, vice president of the Bahamas Football Association. “There is still a lot of work to do, but we will be ready for the CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship in February.”

FIFA, Beach Soccer Worldwide and Bahamas Football Association executives conducted a site visit in November to evaluate the Bahamas’ progress toward hosting the events.

The construction of the $2.5 million facility, built on the site of the original complex at Malcolm Park West, will be capable of hosting over 3,000 patrons and will be equipped with a number of modern amenities.

The 2017 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship will include a field of sixteen teams:

Caribbean Football Union (CFU): Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands - North America: Canada, Mexico, United States - Central American Football Union (UNCAF): Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama.

Two additional CONCACAF teams will join host Bahamas as the three CONCACAF representatives in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017.

The Bahamas recently hosted both the national teams of Switzerland and the Turks and Caicos to training sessions at the beach soccer practice facility at Arawak Cay.

Team Bahamas is set to travel next week to play a series of exhibitions in Central America as they continue to prepare for the impending tournaments.

The team is travelling to Paraguay on January 16 to play matches from the 17-19. They then head to Argentina on the 20th and will play Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay over the next three-day period from the 20th to 22nd.

“This is a fantastic experience for the players as we are in preparation for the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers in February and then the World Cup in April,” McDowell said. “They will play atleast six international games in six days.”

At the time of November’s site visit, Joan Cusco of Beach Soccer World Wide and the tournament director echoed BFA President Anton Sealey’s sentiments on the timetable of construction anticipated to be completed in the late January-early February range.

“We have been here many times to keep on track. We are observing all the improvements and now we are focused on the stadium, which is growing in the right way. We know the material has arrived scheduled as planned so we are optimistic that the stadium will be ready by the end of January,” he said.

Following the CONCACAF Championships, the focus will shift toward the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

In an event expected to revolutionise the sport in the country, teams from around the world will be taking part in the event, hosted April 27 to May 7.

It is expected to be one of the largest draws sports tourism has ever enjoyed. Participation is being compared to the IAAF World Relays and the Battle 4 Atlantis, events that pack hotels, flood restaurants, fill taxis, drive shopping and attract an active lifestyle tourist who wants the best of The Bahamas.

According to officials, 16 countries will qualify to field full teams for matches that take place over an extended 10-day period with each team bringing a complement of 25 persons or more. Because of the length of the competition, economic benefits are being touted as in the multi-millions of dollars.