FIFA to Restructure F.F.B.…

On Wednesday, the Football Federation of Belize held a press conference at its headquarters in Belmopan to announce a decision taken by CONCACAF against the Belmopan Bandits Football Club which was to represent Belize in the 2014-2015 CONCACAF Champions League. While it was a sad day for Belizean football, there was even more depressing news that came out of the press briefing. Now, it’s been a while since we had last heard from the F.F.B. and several persons at the conference questioned the integrity of the president and his executives and accountability for the federation’s funds. President Ruperto Vicente told the gathering that FIFA is in the process of restructuring the federation and the league.

Ruperto Vicente, President, F.F.B.

“One of the things that we are working on as you all know and I think that—I have informed you so that you have the information—that we are in the process of restructuring our federation as well as the league. What is going to happen here in October, in fact right now, FIFA is in the process of evaluating everything that we are doing. The way we deal with our finance; in fact, FIFA has contracted a local company to assist this federation in dealing with its finances. Secondly, FIFA is coming in October and FIFA is going to hold a workshop with all the stakeholders, especially the owners of the teams in the league, and FIFA is going to restructure the league and FIFA is going to manage the league for the next two years. For two years FIFA is going to manage the league, they are going to pay a manager for the league and they are going to pay for the secretariat for the league so that the league is properly managed for the next two years. What we are also doing is that CONCACAF is giving us a director to look at our or to restructure our youth development plan in Belize. He is coming in tomorrow to start the work with us. You see, this federation is keen on training youth development; that’s where we are. And that is the reason why this federation along with CONCACAF and FIFA is going to put a ten-year plan in place. In ten years time, the players we are preparing now will be the players who will make Belize and have Belize looking good. We are in the process of doing that. So this federation is working hard and we are not about ourselves. And I am going to be honest with you, if it was about monies, we would not be here. But I am here because I love this sport.”