UEFA Assist Donates 29-Seater Toyota Coaster Bus To TCIFA

The UEFA ASSIST Project is an initiative under the auspices of the UEFA Confederation in association with Concacaf and seeks to address the needs of Member Associations outside of Europe, with a central objective of contributing to projects that are conducive to the development of football within the said Member Associations. This Project twins a UEFA Member Association with one from Concacaf and a relationship is engendered with football development projects financed by UEFA through one of their Member Association with the objective of benefitting and assisting the Concacaf Member Association.

Through this Project, the Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association (TCIFA) was partnered with the Swedish Football Association. This has resulted in the financing of the Beach Soccer Spectator Seating at the Beach Soccer Pitch located at the TCIFA Academy. Additionally there is an ongoing Coaching Education collaboration between the Swedish FA and the TCIFA. The Coaching Exchange portion would have occurred in March and May of this year but was obviously paused due to the current Covid-19 pandemic.

Recently coming out of the UEFA Assist Project is the donation to the TCIFA (again by UEFA through the Swedish FA) of a 29-seater Toyota Coaster bus just in time to see the phased reopening of football in TCI. This donation works to ensure full participation in the community, by providing access to visiting football teams as well as providing transport for our youth players on the sister-islands on those occasions when they are required to visit Providenciales for games, tournaments and training sessions. It will also be used along with our current van (donated by Grace Bay Car Rental) to supplement the transporting of local Providenciales players. The immediate impact will further the FA’s mission and goals, all whilst providing the comfort of a luxurious journey.

TCIFA President Sonia Fulford commented, “This is a huge donation, and a game changer! We are thrilled and grateful that UEFA ASSIST has taken the decision to equip us with a 29-seater bus. It has been a long time dream of ours in our aim to becoming more self-sufficient. This will definitely contribute to increased efficiency on game days with ease of coordination, and significant savings as transportation services are usually outsourced.”

No one can dispute the advantages of bus travel as reinforcement to every team’s bonding experience. The Coaster bus is packed with all the essential features for team comfort and incentive- air conditioning, a refrigerator, television monitor, and entertainment center (CD/DVD). Additionally, the exterior is outfitted with images of local players from the TCIFA grassroots and youth programmes.