By Paul Nicholson in Zurich
May 28 – CONCACAF have said that they want the election for FIFA president to go ahead tomorrow, and have set up their own Special Committee to manage the affairs of the confederation after the tumultuous events of yesterday that saw their president Jeffrey Webb and Costa Rican president and newly elected FIFA executive member Eduardo Li arrested in their Zurich hotels by Swiss police.
Alfredo Hawit (pictured) from Honduras, a senior vice president of CONCACAF and member of its executive committee, will fill in as interim president. This is the second time he has had to fill in the role, the first time was in 2011 following the suspension of Jack Warner. A CONCACAF statement said its executive committee said it had “provisionally dismissed Jeffrey Webb and Eduardo Li”.
“While we are profoundly disappointed by the allegations made by authorities that again, CONCACAF has been the victim of fraud, we remain committed to CONCACAF’s goal to develop, promote and manage the game of soccer,” said Hawit.
The confederation that covers North America, central America and the Caribbean was thrown into turmoil as news broke yesterday of the arrests and gathered its federations together this morning to discuss the way forward.
The first message coming out the meeting was that the confederation saw no reason to suspend Friday’s election for FIFA president. The confederation was expected to be a strong supporter of Sepp Blatter despite having the increasingly influential presence of US Soccer president and FIFA executive committee member Sunil Gulati strongly supporting his friend Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, who he nominated for the election.
Federation bosses had been advised by their lawyers not to speak to media because of the on-going investigations, but Insideworldfootball understands that there is still a strong majority support for Blatter, especially within the crucial Caribbean Football Union votes, despite the presence of Prince Ali lobbying in their hotel last night.
The mood amongst CONCACAF federation presidents was still one of disbelief regarding the arrests yesterday, though not the shock and confusion that was evident when the news broke.
The disbelief has increasingly turning into a feeling of sad disappointment and one of being let down by a president who had sold his confederation a vision of a new and inclusive future, but then been allegedly (and the initial evidence presented by the US Department of Justice leaves little room for denial) drawn into the old ways of accepting and soliciting bribes for the award of major rights and commercial contracts.
But there was also a strong message coming from the meeting that there was no turning back on the vision they had bought into. The Special Committee comprised of Gulati, Mexico’s Justino Compean and Canada’s Victor Montagliani will take over the immediate decision making for the confederation, particularly ensuring that the confederation’s blue riband event, the Gold Cup which kicks off in July, is not compromised. They have been “charged with the duties of evaluating and sustaining all of the business operations of the Confederation”.
Absent from the meetings this morning was CONCACAF general secretary Enrique Sanz, who had not travelled to Switzerland due to medical reasons. It is unclear, following the developments in Zurich and the release of the US Department of Justice report, whether he will return to duty in Miami but according to the confederations statement is starting an immediate leave of absence.
Ted Howard, CONCACAF’s deputy general secretary, has increased his responsibilities and taken over as acting General Secretary.
Webb’s brave new world for CONCACAF is still a brave new world and there is still a determination to make it a better one for its members. It will just be taking those steps without Webb and will need to find some brave new individuals to pick up the pieces.
There was no information as to the status of the centennial Copa America, scheduled to be hosted by CONCACAF in the US next year and involving five CONCACAF nations alongside the 11 CONMEBOL federations.
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