F.F.B. to Reimburse U.S. $50,000 for Defaulting CONCACAF Match

The Disciplinary Committee of CONCACAF has made a decision against the Football Federation of Belize for not showing up to participate in match six between French Guiana and Belize. The international match was to be held in the South American country on September fifth as part of the CONCACAF Nation’s League. The F.F.B. has been ordered to return fifty thousand U.S. dollars which the organization provided to them to assist in transporting the team to French Guiana; the Jaguars also lose three points because, as per regulations, a no-show constitutes a forfeiture of the match, even if there is a valid reason. Senior Vice President Marlon Kuylen says that the disciplinary action could have been severe, even though the F.F.B. gave a detailed report on what led to Team Belize not making the game.

Marlon Kuylen

Marlon Kuylen, Senior Vice President, Football Federation of Belize

“We had this match coming up in French Guiana that we were to play a match there on Thursday night and we had to return to Belize to play against Grenada the Sunday. When we checked the commercial flights, getting there was not a problem; it was getting back in time to play the match in Belize on Sunday. So we decided to charter an airplane from One Caribbean and all arrangements were made for us to leave the Monday. However, on Wednesday night, we got a note from the airline that during the movement of the planes from then Tropical Storm Dorian, the plane that they were going to use for us got damaged to the wings, but that they would check to see if the repairs could be done on time. Unfortunately on Thursday, they responded and said it is impossible, so they had to cancel on us. We contacted CONCACAF and gave them the news and they—through their offices in Guatemala and Miami—also started to check on other airlines to get us to French Guiana and back. We finally received news that they had found an airline out of Guatemala that could do the trick for us and that they were seeking landing permits from the airports authority and up until Wednesday morning, the French Guiana authorities just refused to give the airlines the landing permit. So we were checking on other airlines that already had permission to land there. But by Wednesday night we realized that you know what—in fact, CONCACAF told us that they had exhausted all their options—and it was impossible for us to get to French Guiana to play the match. Hence there was no choice, but to forfeit the match.”