WC 2014 Elementary Round: Belize Crisis Resolved

Posted on August 18, 2011 2:17 am

Finally, the saga of the struggle between the Football Federation of Belize (FFB) and its own government will be given a rest here on The Regional Review. Following the discussions led by a FIFA delegation, the Belizean Ministry of Sports signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the FFB, under which the government will be allowed to observe the district and general elections in December; it also will permit the use of its fields for FFB club and national-team competitions. On the other side, the FFB will submit new statutes, “disclose” the clubs registered with it and nominate only non-FFB-affiliated persons to the Electoral Commission.

Of course, this does not mean that all is well in Belizean football – just last Saturday, the former FFB “Second Vice President” David H. Jones resigned out of frustration with the organization’s apparent allergy to progress – but at least Belize’s national team will be able to play six more World Cup matches in the fall. If all goes well, perhaps in the near future the FFB’s Stadium will be brought up to CONCACAF standard, so that its club champion can finally return to the CCL.