Prime Minister Perry Christie toured the newly renovated Bahamas Football Association (BFA) National Beach Soccer Facility on Saturday, ahead of this week's CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) Beach Soccer Championships. The $2.5 million facility, built on the site of the original complex at Malcolm Park, has a seating capacity of about 3,500 and is equipped with a number of modern amenities.
The CONCACAF Championships will serve as a qualifier and test event for the upcoming International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) Beach Soccer World Cup, which will be held at the facility from April 27 to May 7, and will feature 16 teams from around the world. As for the CONCACAF Championships, competition will run from today through Sunday.
"In terms of this facility, I want to congratulate this young Bahamian designer, Bruce Lefleur Jr. for executing the vision in a wonderful way," said Prime Minister Christie. "I think it is critical that Bahamians come to understand the significance of this stadium and the events that it will host. We are actually moving to another dimension in offering the world and the region facilities that are second to none. Many years ago, I indicated to Minister [Obie] Wilchcombe, in his first stint as Minister of Tourism, that we had to commit to sports tourism. The Bahamas has truly demonstrated our capacity internationally, and we had to broaden and deepen our involvement. For me, I am so pleased to see that we have reached that stage."
Although he will be in attendance this week to see how the stadium and its functions perform under pressure, Christie said that he's also looking forward to seeing the high-level competition up close.
"I have to come and see this, simply to see how men can run on sand without falling down. This is truly a test of stamina," Christie said. "This is going to be competitive. I am really pleased and really want to congratulate the construction company and the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr. Daniel Johnson for being involved at the highest level."
The teams representing the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) this week are Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the U.S. Virgin islands. Teams representing North America will be from Canada, Mexico and the United States, and teams representing the Central American Football Union (UNCAF) will be Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama.
Two CONCACAF teams will join The Bahamas as the three representatives in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017. If The Bahamas finishes in the top two at the CONCACAF Championships, the third place team will qualify along with the other top two teams.

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