FFB President is Back from Zurich, What’s the Latest at the Federation?

Ruperto Vicente

Ruperto Vicente is back in Belize from Switzerland following the election of Gianni Infantino as the new FIFA President. The F.F.B. President left town while controversy and tension bubbled and boiled in the Federation. Three Executive members have sought to suspend him while he in turn has sought counter-sanctions against those three members. The Congress took a break to get legal opinions from local sources, CONCACAF and FIFA before deciding how to proceed. So where is the F.F.B. now? This morning Vicente told News Five that after prayer and meditation in Switzerland, he decided to, in his words, step out of the hog pen.

Ruperto Vicente, President, Football Federation of Belize

“If you stay in a hog pen with the hogs you are likely to behave like them, eat like them and live like them. I have to be different. I cannot continue to reflect on the wrongs that people want to do or attempted to do. I cannot continue with that. I have moved on. I am the guardian of Belizean football and as such I cannot allow myself to be districted. I have to continue the work which I was elected to do. And that’s where I stand. The suspension that was attempted cannot stand because it was illegal, it is unconstitutional. It goes against the values of our statutes. It cannot hold. We will not as a Federation say anything more on that until all the legal interpretations have been forwarded to us. FIFA yes will be coming to Belize to see what the issues affecting us as administrators are – not football – but us as administrators. I am going to continue my work. I am going to continue the programs that we have planned for Belize. I will not allow any situation to distract me or to cause me to deviate from that.”