A meeting was held on Friday, September 30, at the Football Federation of Belize Headquarters in Belmopan among football club representatives of the top league, officials of FIFA, the Football Federation of Belize (FFB), and the Minister of Sports. The purpose of the meeting was to arrive at a definitive decision on the formation of ONE top league for Belizean football. FFB Secretary General, Mrs. Marguerite Hulse chaired the meeting.
In his opening remarks the Honorable John Saldivar mentioned that he was very pleased that FIFA, in the person of Messrs. Primo Corvaro and Rafael Salguero, had taken the time out to come to Belize to ensure that the FIFA Roadmap to solve the crisis in Belizean football was being carried out. He further stressed that his Ministry and the Government of Belize support the decision to have One top league, as proposed by the FFB, but that he wanted to ensure that the process was open and transparent.
For his part, Mr. Primo Corvaro assured the gathering that FIFA was following the process to solve the Belize crisis closely, to ensure that all goes well. He urged the club representatives to form one top league and to join the process now, since the top league would have new voting rights in the next election for a new FFB executive. Both the Belize Premier Football League (BPFL) and the Super League, along with other interested football clubs, embraced the idea of the new united top league.
The FFB, at the urging of Minister Saldivar, has agreed to re-open the registration process for two weeks up to October 14 at midday, for any new clubs interested in registering for this top league. It was further agreed that the original committee that had been set up in April, comprising members of the BPFL, Super League and the FFB, will vet the applications for the top league clubs. It is expected that this new TOP League should elect a new executive by October 28. The Ministry has since learnt that at Friday’s Congress of the FFB the top league was given six (6) votes in the FFB. One concrete proposal that has been tabled is that the Top League President becomes a Vice President in the FFB Executive.
The Ministry has further learnt that the new statutes for the FFB were approved at the Congress on Friday. These will now be submitted to the National Sports Council for consideration and approval. An Electoral Code was also approved and the Electoral Commission was also appointed.
The Ministry welcomes these new developments and will continue, along with FIFA, to monitor the situation.
– press release –
(Ed. Note: The interim committee for the Top League which, as mentioned above, “had been set up in April,” consists of: Michael Blease (Super League), Ruperto Vicente (Super League), Sergio Chuc (BPFL), Lionel Welch (BPFL), Bernaldino Pech (FFB) and Marguerite Hulse (FFB). They will now be responsible to “vet the applications for the top league clubs.”)