CONCACAF Presidential Race Heats Up

(ATR) And then there were four.

Twomore candidates have joined Bermuda’s Larry Mussenden and Guyana’s MarkRodrigues in a bid for the presidency of scandal-plagued CONCACAF.

CanadianSoccer Association president Victor Montagliani went public with hiscandidacy on Feb. 8. The Daily Observer in Antigua reported thatCaribbean Football Union president Gordon Derrick is also in therunning.

Montagliani, CSA presidentsince 2012, was chair of the organizing committee for the FIFA Women’sWorld Cup last summer in Canada.

The new president will be elected May 12 in Mexico City.

CONCACAF’sthree most-recent presidents, Alfredo Hawit, Jeffrey Webb and JackWarner, were charged last year as part of a U.S.-led investigation ofinternational soccer tournament and television fee corruption andbidding bribery.

Montagliani is running on a reform platform, hoping to attract the FIFA World Cup to North America in 2026.

"Iffootball is deserving of the devotion of such a large swath of theworld’s population, then it needs to be governed in a principled andprofessional way that, above all else, protects the integrity of thegame," said a statement from Montagliani.

Montaglianihas served on a CONCACAF caretaker committee with the heads of the U.S.and Mexican federations. He is also a member of FIFA’s legal committee.

Ina 2012 interview, Montagliani listed Webb and then-FIFA generalsecretary Jerome Valcke as soccer executives that he looked up to.Canadian Soccer Association, unlike the U.S. Soccer Federation, does notpublish its audited financial reports.

Written by Bob Mackin

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