FFK Newsletter - FFK ta Informá April 2016, Volume 2, Issue 2 Next round! As the president of the Curacao Football Federation I am happy to announce that two of our national selections have made it into the second round of two Caribbean competi- tions. First the national Futsal selection performed great in the CFU Futsal Championship of 2016. The team won all their matches in the group phase and bravely faced host Cuba in the final in a sold out Futsal stadium and became runner-up CFU Futsal Champion of 2016. They will now participate in the CONCACAF 2016 Championship in June. The senior selection played against Barbados and the Dominican Republic in the First Round of the Caribbean Cup qualifiers. We lost in Barbados but with a win at home against the Dominican Republic we qualified for the Second Round. In June our national selection will play against the US Virgin Islands and Guyana in the second Round. At home on our beautiful island the youth competition is well underway and we are look- ing forward to the kickoff of the School Competition for Girls U-14 and the start of the season for the First, Second and Third division in April. Good luck to all our teams! FFK President Rignaal ‘Jean’ Francisca On behalf of the board of FFK, Rignaal ‘Jean’ Francisca, President KNVB meets with FKK and government In January, a delegation of the Dutch Football Federation KNVB visited Curacao. KNVB and FFK have a longstanding partnership and meetings at top level take place regularly . The KNVB-delegation consisted of Michael van Praag ( president of KNVB), Gijsbert van Oostveen (general secretary KNVB and director of the Dutch Eredivisie), Paul Decossaux (commercial director KNVB) and Johan van Geijn, coordinator international projects of KNVB. Van Praag and Whiteman The objective of the delegation’s visit was to discuss how KNVB can be of help in the further development of football in Curacao. This year, a new Memorandum of Understand- ing for Cooperation between KNVB and FFK will be drawn up. Traditionally the Dutch Federation shares knowledge and experience by means of providing the requirements for courses and workshops. The delegation also visited the governmental offices to meet with Curacao’s prime minister Mr. Ben Whiteman in order to discuss his sports policy and the possible support of KNVB for football devel- opment. Official portrait of the KNVB delegation with the Board of FFK Pa ge 2 FFK Futsal Team second in CONCACAF Caribbean Qualifiers The Curacao Futsal selection did great in de Caribbean Qualifiers for the CONCACAF Futsal Championship 2016 - the Futsal event for the men's national teams of the North, Central American and Caribbean region. As sec- ond finalist, the team qualified for the CONCACAF Fut- sal Championship , which is a first in the history in Cura- cao Futsal. In the Caribbean Zone, eight teams from CFU entered the qualifying tournament which took place in Cuba from 22 to 26 January 2016.The eight teams played in two groups of four teams. Curacao was matched to Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and Antigua & Barbuda. The FFK Futsal selection won their first match against Guyana on January 22nd with a score of 5-2. The sec- The team in the Cuban Futsal Stadium ond match against Antigua & Barbuda ended in 5-0. Curacao also won their third match against Trinidad & Tobago. As the winner of group A Curacao had thus achieved a place in the final against host Cuba on Janu- ary 26. Curacao tried hard but Cuba proved to be the better team and won the match 5-1. Both finalist qualified for the 2016 CONCACAF Futsal Championship in May in Costa Rica, the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Futsal Championship. The tournament will be organized in San José, Costa Rica from 8 to 15 May 2016. On March 16, the draw took place in host country Costa Rica. Curacao and Cuba both ended up in Group B and will face each other again. Also in Group B is Costa Rica, and the winner of the play-in between Canada and the US . Group 1 consists of Mexico, Pa- nama, Guatemala and the winner of the play-in between and Trinidad & Tobago and Honduras. Team and staff after the final The Curacao Futsal team The Curacao Futsal selection consists of the following 10 players : Ashar Bernardus, Gino Costina, Shurwendel Roosje, Everon Espacia, Jarzinho Pieter, Rudrick Pop, Germaine Geerman, Jean Pauletta, Stallone Isenia and Reginald Martina. The team was lead by Kenneth ‘Bob’ Bernabela as TD and Jubinald Martis as assistant TD. Luthson Reenis was in charge of the materials and physiotherapist Sander Schelling cared for the players. Alexander Molina, member of the Board of FFK, travelled with the group as team leader and official FFK representative. The Curacao Futsal team in the preparation phase for the Caribbean Qualifiers. Pa ge 3 Curacao’s results in Qualifiers Caribbean Cup 2017 Group 4 The Curacao National selection was placed in Group 4 with Barbados and the Dominican Republic during the xxx event in January. Head coach had not yet found his dream job as a club coach and was willing to lead the team once more in the Qualifications for the Caribbean Cup. In the preparation for the first round Curacao managed to get the young and promising players Leandro Bacuna and Jarchinio Antonia on board. The team was further enforced by Rangelo Janga, Everon Pisas and Doriano Kortstam. Expectations were high for our team. The Curacao team celebrating after a goal against the Dominican Republic Travelling from Holland, where the internationals had gathered as Schiphol Airport, to Barbados turned out to be a long trip. First stopover in Curacao and a chance to meet & greet family, friends and fans at the airport , due to a slight delay. That delay resulted in a missed connection in Trinidad and an unprepared for over- night stay. Less than 24 hours before the match, the team finally tested the field in Barbados. Barbados - Curacao : 0 -1 Patrick Kluivert meets new players Bacuna and Antonia at Curacao Airport The Curacao team started the match quite confident, manifested itself and controlled the match. The team created scoring oppor- tunities but somehow seemed unable to collect on their advan- tage. After the halftime break the Barbados team appeared more eager in their efforts to conclude the match with a goal, forcing Curacao goalkeeper Eloy Room to a couple of saves. One lucky shot after a corner kick and Curacao faced a potentially serious loss. The team worked hard to get even but to no avail. Final re- sult - 1-0 for Barbados. Travelling back to Curacao for the home match against the Dominican Republic, the next goal was clear. Curacao - Dominican Republic : 2 -1 The Curacao team in Barbados ahead of the match Appearing remarkably unshaken by their recent loss and pressing mission, the Curacao team again started out cool and collected, working on control and premeditated attacks on the Dominican wall. That wall turned out to be quite strong and stubborn and only well into the second half, Curacao scored the first goal. The Dominican Republic was now motivated to attack and managed to equalize. Knowing that a draw would seriously reduce their chance to reach the second round, Curacao fought to score once more - and they did. With a 2-1 win, Curacao still had to await the results of the match between the Dominican Republic and Barba- dos. That match ended in a 2-0 win for the home team, which At home and ready to rock meant Barbados out, Curacao through. Pa ge 4 Standings Youth Competition 2016 U-9 U-11 U-13 The FFK Youth Competition 2016 for six age categories on two performance levels is well under way. After the Carnival and Easter break, the teams now gear up for the second half of the competition. The teams then head for the play offs leading up to the finals in June. In the U-9, U-11 and U-13 categories FFK saw a rise in participating teams in both the A and B competition. One of the require- ments for CONCACAF licensing is that each team participating in the First and Second Division must have at least one youth team in the competition during this season. Next season the number of teams a club must facilitate in the Youth Competition will be at least two or three, including one at grassroots level. This way, more children will be able to start playing in organized competitions at an early age, which is needed to meet the rising popularity for youth football on the island. U-15 U-17 U-20 Pa ge 5 Pre selection Girls U-15 In March, the Talent Identification Program for Girls started their training again. The FFK Women Department has put together a new staff with a number of experienced ex-internationals to lead the training. Twice a week the girls come together and train hard to become Curacaos next generation of female soccer representatives. Live your Goals! Start training School Football for Girls School Competition In February, FFK employed a number of coaches to organize and implement trainings for girls at a number of schools. The The following schools participate with one or more participating school all have one or more teams that will play teams in the 2016 U-14 Girls School competition. in the U-14 Girls School Competition, which will start on April Margrietschool, Wim Ellis School, Kolegio Don Sarto, 12 in the SDK Stadium. Oranjeschool, Kolegio Sta. Clara, Kolegio Dodo Palm, This season 14 schools have agreed to participate in the com- St.