Canover Watson of the Cayman Islands elected as fourth vice president of CFU

Cayman Islands Football Association president Jeffrey Webb was confirmed as CONCACAF’s new president at the confederation’s congress in Budapest. Webb had been in charge of the FIFA normalisation committee responsible for cleaning up Caribbean football.

Unopposed in the election to replace former CFU and CONCACAF boss Jack Warner, he becomes one of the most influential figures in world football.

Jeffrey Webb sad a team from his football confederation should win the 2026 World Cup.

Webb set out his mission on Wednesday (23) after he was elected to lead 40 football nations of North and Central America and the Caribbean. The Cayman Islands banker was the only candidate to succeed disgraced former FIFA vice president Jack Warner. He resigned last June to avoid an investigation of a bribery scandal.

Webb told his members: “The 2026 World Cup belongs to CONCACAF.”

FIFA President Sepp Blatter hailed Webb’s election to the post, saying: “The credibility of CONCACAF is back.”

Jack Warner played a controversial role in CONCACAF for nearly 30 years. He was elected for a sixth time in February 2011 but resigned four months later after a leaked FIFA ethics report alleged that he had conspired with Bin Hammam to bribe CFU members.

Jeff Webb, 47, becomes only the fourth president in CONCACAF’s 51-year history.

“We have a responsibility to ensure the past will never be repeated,” Webb was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

There was no mention of his corruption-tarnished predecessor Jack Warner in speeches at the congress.

Asian Football Confederation’s 47 member associations gave their resounding approval to FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s reforms process at the AFC Congress in Budapest today.

Acting president Zhang Jilong underlined Asian football’s support for Blatter’s wide-ranging reforms. The Swiss was at the meeting and attended all six congresses of the continental confederations in the Hungarian capital.

Jilong took over the AFC leadership in the wake of the lifetime ban for bribery handed down by FIFA to AFC chief Mohamed Bin Hammam last July and was addressing his first AFC Congress.

“It is only because of your friendship and understanding we have been able to see off a very challenging period,” Jilong was quoted as saying on AFC.com.

“You proved to the world of football that Asian football can take care of itself and will emerge stronger from the crisis of last year.”

Blatter praised Jilong’s leadership in the aftermath of Bin Hammam’s ban. FIFA found the Qatari guilty of bribing 25 Caribbean Football Union members to the tune of $40,000 each to vote for him in the FIFA presidential election. A number of CFU members were also sanctioned and a FIFA normalisation committee brought in to clean up Caribbean football.

“Great job… it was not easy,” Blatter complimented Jilong, also praising the AFC Executive Committee.

The 76-year-old head of world football underlined the importance of his reforms in his address to the AFC Congress.

“We have to adapt our governance and statutes to the realities of life. This is a common effort to put in a mechanism of control. It will start with FIFA, then we go down to the national associations and the confederations,” Blatter was quoted on AFC.com.

In related news, Antigua and Barbuda general secretary Gordon Derrick was elected president of the Caribbean Football Union on Tuesday along with all eight members of the organisation’s executive committee.

The 43-year-old beat off competition from Luis Hernandez of Cuba, Ronald Jones of Barbados and Harold Taylor of Trinidad & Tobago.

He now begins a four-year term replacing Warner.

“Rest assured there will be no marginalization, discrimination or segregation under my tenure,” Derrick told the CFU congress following the vote, according to a release on the CONCACAF website.

“We are all vital components of this union, each and every member has a part to play and it is only through unity can we move the union forward.”

Cheney Joseph of Grenada was elected as first vice president, Larry Mussenden of Bermuda as second vice president, Lyndon Cooper of St. Lucia as third vice president, Canover Watson of the Cayman Islands as fourth vice president and Sonia Bien-Aime (Turks and Caicos Islands), Hillaren Frederick (U.S. Virgin Islands) , Maurice Victoire (Martinique), and Anthony Johnson (St. Kitts and Nevis) as board members.

Bien-Aime is the first woman to be chosen for a CFU executive post.

Note: Information for this report was taken from Associated Press and World Football Insider (www.worldfootballinsider.com/Story.aspx?id=35133)