Newly elected Football Federation of Belize (FFB) President Ruperto Vicente said tonight that the picture doesn’t look good from what he has seen so far of the FFB account.
Following the FFB Executive elections last Thursday night, which was observed by representatives from FIFA, arrangements were reportedly made for an early handover to the new administration.
Of primary concern, despite the televised remarks of outgoing President Bertie Chimilio, who minimized the importance of money to the running of football, is the state of the FFB finances, considering the significant reported contributions by FIFA.
For the last decade plus, FIFA, through its FAP (Football Assistance Program) program has given an annual disbursement of Bze $500,000.00 to the FFB; and in addition to that, it has funded various projects, seminars and development programs under the FFB.
Of particular note, is that FIFA reported in its annual congress just this past June, that it had given each member national association a special bonus from World Cup 2010 profits, amounting to an additional total of US $550,000.00, or Bze $1,100,000.00.
For the past three years, the national champions, Belize Defence Force, has been unable to represent Belize in the CONCACAF Champions League tournament reportedly because of inadequacies in the lighting facilities at the FFB Stadium.
If the money was not spent on lighting and stadium upgrade (the FFB Stadium and headquarters in Belmopan were all paid for with separate monies allocated by FIFA), then there should be major funds lying idle in the FFB account.
But, according to what Vicente told us tonight, when he visited Scotiabank he was shocked to learn that the FFB account there has barely a thousand dollars in it. Vicente said that all FIFA funds to the FFB are sent through Scotiabank, where the main FFB account has been located.
He said his executive is in the process of writing all the other local banks to determine if there are any other FFB accounts.
There is a meeting scheduled for tomorrow with the outgoing President, Dr. Bertie Chimilio, and Vicente promised to update us on the situation.