JFF misses out on FIFA’S $2-billion payout - Local stakeholders rue opportunity for nation to capitalise on World Cup qualification

Following FIFA's announcement that each nation will receive a minimum of US$12.5 million (approx J$2billion) for qualifying for this year's FIFA World Cup, Jamaican football stakeholders Andrew Price and Paul Christie said the country's failure to reach the showpiece could have far-reaching consequences.

FIFA's ruling council recently agreed to increase the base payment to each federation by US$2 million, with the global governing body projecting revenues of at least US$11 billion from the tournament, which will be hosted across the United States, Canada and Mexico, starting June 11.

Price, a former national senior women's coach, noted that the absence of the Reggae Boyz from the global stage remains a bitter disappointment.

"Well, even about missing out on the amount of the money that we would have made if we had qualified, just the mere fact of not qualifying leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, both as a fan and as a Jamaican," Price said.

"I believe that this was the best opportunity that we would have gotten in a long time to have qualified for a World Cup, with three Concacaf teams hosting the World Cup. It gave us an even easier opportunity which we didn't take with both hands, and so I am still disappointed at not qualifying," he said.

VITAL FINANCES

Price said that qualification would have brought not just prestige, but vital financial support to strengthen the country's football programmes.

"Now, as it relates to the amount of money that we would have received, as FIFA continues to do well at these global World Cup tournaments, the enrichment of member nations will continue to increase, and I am sure that after this World Cup, they will increase for the next World Cup because of the support that the World Cup gets globally," he said.

"It is part and parcel of qualifying for the World Cup, so you will get the money that you need to develop your programmes."

Looking ahead, Price is now urging the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) to have a renewed focus on youth development and long-term planning.

"Going forward, we have to look at development, we have to look at the future, and we have look at players within the age group of 26 to 28 at the oldest for the next World Cup. So we have to look at more younger prime players. A lot of players who participated in the last World Cup cycle will now be redundant, so we have to start looking at younger players," he said.

IMPLICATIONS

Meanwhile, Paul Christie, sporting director of Mount Pleasant Academy, echoed similar sentiments, highlighting the significant financial and developmental implications of missing out.

"The impact is massive in the sense that this injection of money that we would have received if we had qualified for the World Cup, we know that it would have trickled down in the developmental aspect of the Jamaica football brand," he said.

"We are all aware that the Jamaica Football Federation is strapped for cash, so the timing would have been perfect to improve lives and livelihood, and we have missed a big one," Christie said.

Christie also underscored that the World Cup provides a huge exposure and opportunities for the players, which could change their lives forever.

"Everybody knows that the World Cup is the showpiece for the players to showcase the talents; and historically, it is the biggest assembly of scouts globally, and a player just needs one moment in the World Cup and his life and his situation will change forever.

"So it is immeasurable how adversely we would have been affected, and how far back, how developmental programmes would have been set back," he said.

EARLY PREPARATION

Christie also stressed the importance of unity and early preparation among stakeholders moving forward to the next World Cup campaign.

"Going forward, all the stakeholders need to be in line, in one direction, because we naturally have athletes and we need to improve our structure so that our athletes can matriculate to the senior ranks of our football. This can be done, because it has been done before," he said.

"We cannot wait until the next two years to start to scope out players, we need to start from now. So what we need to do is get a core and base and then we build around that; so that is what we have been missing."