ST GEORGE'S, Grenada (CMC):Football's world governing body (FIFA) has agreed to give the Grenada Football Association (GFA) a grant of US half a million dollars to build a new headquarters in St George's.

President of the GFA, Chenny Joseph, says construction of the new office complex is expected to begin no later than February next year.

The building stems from GFA's proposal for a GOAL project which was approved during a recent meeting of FIFA's Goal Bureau Committee.

"We believe that the enthusiasm of this current executive in addition to the need for an administrative building for football was a solid enough reason to put forward a proposal to FIFA," said Joseph in an interview with the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Friday.

GFA, which currently operates out of rented accommodation, now awaits a decision of government to make good on a promise to provide the titles to a parcel of land to be used for the construction of the project.

At least 40 persons are expected to be employed during the building phase and at the completion at least 10 permanent jobs.

They are expected to include persons to manage a new wing dedicated to the advancement of women's football on the island.

raising more revenue

"We are going to put a lot more emphasis on our women's programme, so we want to have people there dedicated to women's football," Joseph told CMC.

"Apart from that, we will need to have referee personnel in there. We will need to look at our competition and we will need to have someone in marketing to start raising more revenue for us."

The GOAL Programme, launched in 1999 by FIFA President Sepp Blatter, allows each member association of FIFA to receive funding for football development projects that respond to the special needs of their national associations