By Paul Nicholson
March 4 – Jeffrey Webb is set to be re-elected unopposed to the presidency of North and Central American and Caribbean confederation CONCACAF. The XXX Congress on April 16 will see one contested election with a battle for the FIFA Executive Committee post for the Central American region.
Webb took over the presidency of the confederation in May 2012 at a tumultuous congress that officially ended the authoritarian regime of Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer. It was a watershed moment for football in the region.
Since then the pace of change in the CONCACAF region has been remarkable with Webb focusing strategy on development and inclusion. Webb has successfully harnessed the power of the region’s football and commercial giants Mexico and the US to help explode what he repeatedly has called the “potential” of the CONCACAF’s federations with new opportunities on the field of play and within the infrastructure of the game.
Central to his mission has been the recruitment of a core team at CONCACAF headquarters led by General Secretary Enrique Sanz who similarly has emerged into a mercurial and galvanizing figure in the region’s football.
With the elections of FIFA president coming up in May, prior to the nomination deadline in January there had been whispers that Webb would stand against Blatter. Webb repeatedly cut those rumours off at the root saying that there was still work to be done at CONCACAF.
He told Insideworldfootball back then: “I am the president of CONCACAF and that is my 100% commitment. That is my responsibility, that is my job, that is my focus.
“What you are seeing is the start of the process in our region. We have made some important changes, we have started a lot of programmes, we are involving as many of our member associations as we can, we have added competitions and initiatives, this is a huge task.”
For Webb the task continues with the support of CONCACAF’s Canadian federation in the organisation of this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada, and the 2015 edition of the region’s premier event, the Gold Cup. Staying true to his development mission, the confederation will also organise the second edition of the Boys U15 championship in Webb’s home country, the Cayman Islands. The U15 competitions are the youngest age-group championships run by any of the confederations.
2016 will be another landmark year for CONCACAF with the organisation of the Centennial edition of the Copa America – the world’s oldest international tournament played in the South American confederation Conmebol – in the US. The Copa Centenario will be elevated to a global stage by moving to the US and will overlap dates with the expanded Euro2016 Championships in France.
The CONCACAF Congress will be asked to vote for the Central American representative to FIFA’s executive committee. Guatemala’s Rafael Salguero is the present incumbent and he is being challenged by Costa Rica’s Eduardo Li for the seat at world football’s top table.
Costa Rica were the break-out nation at last year’s Brazilian World Cup eventually losing on penalties in the quarter finals the Netherlands. Costa Rica are the reigning Central American champions and last year hosted the FIFA U17 Women’s Chmapionship.
Mexico’s Justino Compeán, Jamaica’s Horace Burrell, Panama’s Pedro Chaluja and Turks and Caicos’ female representative Sonia Bien-Amie are all standing unopposed in their election to CONCACAF’s executive committee.
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