Jeffrey Webb was elected president of CONCACAF at the confederation’s annual congress on Wednesday, chosen by acclamation as the only candidate on the ballot.
The 47-year-old banker and president of the Cayman Islands Football Association will complete the four-year term of Jack Warner, who was elected a sixth time to the post in May 2010 but resigned a month later after 20 years in office.
The elections were held in Budapest, Hungary and Cayman’s Minister of Sports Mark Scotland was there to witness it.
Webb said: “Over the last year, our mission and our vision have been blurred, from lawyers, to audit reports to compensation. We have deviated from our mission,” Webb told the congress following the vote. I am here; we are here, because of our love for football.
“The passion for the game drives and motivates our every action. Our core focus must be football, its development, its growth and its ability to transform nations. We must rest and restructure our confederation.”
Webb, who has been CIFA president for 21 years and was nominated by 29 of the 40 member associations and also serves as Deputy Chairman of the FIFA Internal Audit Committee and is a member of the FIFA Transparency and Compliance Committee.
He is also the chairman of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football Youth Committee and was chairman of the Caribbean Football Union’s Normalisation Committee, which was dissolved with that organisation’s presidential and executive committee elections on Tuesday.
“The events over the past year will not define and determine our destiny,” Webb said. “We have a responsibility to ensure that history isn’t repeated.
“Let us use the events over the past year as a catalyst to promote positive change. Let’s see it as an opportunity to return to the core values of the beautiful game – the values which enchanted and sparked our love affair with this game.”
Webb becomes only the fourth president in CONCACAF’s 51-year history, joining Ramon Coll Jaumet (Costa Rica, 1961-1968), Joaquin Soria Terrazas (Mexico, 1968-1990) and Warner (Trinidad & Tobago, 1990-2011).
Gordon Derrick was elected as the new President of the Caribbean Football Union at its 35th Ordinary Congress,
The current General Secretary of the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association received the support of more than half of the Union’s membership during the election, at the Boscolo New York Palace Hotel. Cayman’s Canover Watson was elected as a CFU fourth vice-president.
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I watched the video of Jeff Webb’s acceptance speech and could feel no real joy or pride in any of it but I give him full credit for his honesty.
Jeff has not ascended a throne from which to celebrate…Jeff has taken over a sick, corrupt organization that needs to be fixed and brought back into credibility in the world of reasonably honest men…
And he might just be the man to do it.
As a man who’s been invloved in football all my life and who now works for two of the West Midlands (England) biggest professional football clubs…
I hung my head in shame when I read CONCACAF’s auditor’s report on the outright robbery and corruption that has taken place within the tenure of past president Austin ‘Jack’ Warner and General Secretary Chuck Blazer; these two men ran CONCACAF as their personal fiefdom and this has been no secret.
For those of us working at the top level of football, both in CONCACAF and England, we have always known of this but CONCACAF had to clean its own house…as FIFA has to do as well.
The English game is probably the most honest in the world when it comes to open, outright corruption and all we can do in the game in England is shake our heads in dismay and hope that a better day is around the corner for CONCACAF.
I can honestly say that CONCACAF’s member countries have chosen Webb for the job because, at this point in time…he is the best man for the job.
I wish him all the luck in the world because, I know for sure…
He’s going to need it.
Good luck Jeff, all the best !