Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
JAMAICA'S SENIOR female footballers have been given a $2.1 million boost by five sponsors heading into next month's Gold Cup qualification.
APM Terminal, Johnson & Johnson, Jamaica Spring Water, Digicel and Irie FM have combined in an effort to propel women's football to the forefront.
Crenston Boxhill, president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), said at the announcement earlier this week that it was these occasions that made his faith in Jamaica soar to new heights.
A SERIOUS LOOK
"Let's look seriously at what is happening today," Boxhill said.
"We have a conglomerate of five sponsors that decided to put cash and kind in support of these players and the national women's programme," he said.
APM Terminals (Ja) Ltd put up $500,000; Johnson & Johnson, the official sanitary protection provider through its brand Stayfree put up $500,000; Jamaica Spring Water $250,000; Digicel provided 25 phones and $5,000 worth of credit to 25 players and administrative staff while Irie FM will provide $400,000 worth of air time for the JFF and the Reggae Girls.
Jamaica will stage Group C of the Caribbean qualification starting on May 8 and will play St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Antigua and Barbuda.
The four group Caribbean winners will then advance to the next round with the top two teams qualifying for the Gold Cup in November in the United States.
The six-team Women's Gold Cup, which will crown the CONCACAF champion, will also qualify two nations to the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China. The third-place finisher from the CONCACAF event will face an Asian team in a home-and-away playoff for the final berth to the FIFA tournament.
