GFA registration now online; June 19 weekend restart target

[April 30, 2021 – Harmon, Guam] Guam Football Association replaced its traditional registration system to a fully online system for all players, coaches, referees, and administrators in a move to continue streamlining operations.

GFA signed with Canada-based PowerUp Sports as the platform to be utilized in managing the organization’s stakeholder database and to provide an online management system for its clubs and teams.

“With the lull in league play due to the pandemic, we moved forward to fully implement an online registration and club management system before the restart of play,” said Samuel San Gil, GFA Competitions Director. “Over the last year, we’ve been meeting with club and team representatives to introduce the new procedure for registration and to find solutions for club management through the new online platform. We’ve been very fortunate that PowerUp Sports has been very accommodating to tailor the system to meet unique needs of both GFA and our member clubs.”

The GFA Competitions Department is targeting the weekend of June 19 to re-start the new season of GFA leagues, beginning with adult futsal and recreational leagues.

The Budweiser Futsal League, Bud Light Women’s Futsal League, Budweiser Soccer League Masters Division, and the Docomo Pacific Soccer Moms League are the first four GFA leagues planned to begin this summer after more than a year hiatus due to the COVID19 pandemic. In the meantime, clubs and players will be required to utilize GFA’s new online registration and club management system before receiving the green light to compete in leagues.

Players interested in playing in GFA leagues will need to first register with a club or team and after completing registration requirements at the club level, the player will be authorized by the club to continue registration with GFA. Once registration at both the club and GFA level is complete, clubs will be able to manage team rosters for league matches. Coaches, referees, other match officials, and administrators also will be required to register online.

“We’ve actually been planning this move to an online system for quite some time to help streamline GFA and club operations, as well as contribute to our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint,” San Gil said. “We’ve always looked for ways to alleviate previous issues of long lines of parents and players at GFA waiting to register for leagues through a single computer system and to eliminate the usage of paper registration forms. In addition to previous challenges with player registration, we have been looking for a complete, efficient system to manage other competitions aspects. This is a move in the right direction for us at GFA, our member clubs, and all football stakeholders in Guam.”

The online platform includes features to generate league schedules, to assign and confirm referees to matches, and provide communication tools for GFA and clubs. The system also adds a convenient option to pay fees online. Those registered will be able to see a comprehensive list of their football activity and certifications – whether as a club player, National Team player, coach, and referee, among other roles.

In addition to the convenience the online system provides to those registered in Guam, GFA is working with FIFA to integrate data from the online system with the FIFA Connect ID service. According to the FIFA Web site, the FIFA Connect ID service generates a unique global football identity for all football stakeholders worldwide – including players, referees, coaches, officials, organizations, and venues, and offers verified data of all player registrations. The unique FIFA ID number each stakeholder receives will be used for football activity worldwide regardless of geographical location.

FIFA has mandated that all Member Associations must be integrated with the FIFA Connect ID service and have players registered and assigned a FIFA ID number by July 2021. To date, half of FIFA’s 210 Member Associations are fully integrated.

The start date for upcoming summer leagues is subject to change. The re-start of all other leagues, including Premier and Amateur divisions of both the Budweiser Soccer and Bud Light Women’s Soccer Leagues, the GFA Women’s Recreational League, the Bud Light Co-Ed Masters Soccer League, the Aloha Maid Minetgot Cup Elite Youth League, and the Triple J Auto Group Robbie Webber Youth League will be communicated at a later date.

For more information about GFA Leagues, visit the GFA Web site’s Leagues page at https://guamfa.com/gfa-programs/all-leagues/