Photo: (l-r) Sergio Chuc, President of FFB and Victor Montagliani, President of CONCACAF

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Mon. May 8, 2023

On Monday, May 8, the president of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), Victor Montagliani, stepped foot on Belize soil on a 24-hour courtesy visit.

Joining Montagliani on his visit was the President of UNCAF (Central American Football Union), Pedro Chaluja, and a delegation consisting of Mario Monterrosa, General Secretary for UNCAF; Marco Leal from the Office of the President, Chief Officer for Member Association; and Nidia Mercado, Protocol Coordinator.

“These fine gentlemen have decided that they wanted to spend some of their time briefly here in Belize to show support to the Football Federation of Belize and to acknowledge the work that we have been doing here over the past couple of years,” Sergio Chuc, president of the Football Federation of Belize (FFB), said at a press conference hosting the visitors at the House of Culture in Belize City this afternoon.

“We are looking to keep this union stronger than ever, working together with the support of CONCACAF and FIFA, of course, but mainly as we have been doing for the past eight years, keeping our strength together as a union in Central America,” said Chaluja.

“We look forward to the tremendous growth that our federation has had in the last seven years… We have a football-first philosophy, and what I am really happy about my first visit here in your country is talking to members of the executive committee, former players, Sergio, and the strategy that he has already enrolled, I love to see that it is about football first,” added Montagliani.

Montagliani was re-elected as President of CONCACAF in February of this year and was first elected in 2016.