MONTEGO BAY, St James — JFF President Captain Horace Burrell said he expects to formalise the working relationship between Reggae Boyz Head Coach Winfried Schafer and the Federation in the coming days.

The JFF president said he will be meeting with a couple of sponsors to “conclude crucial discussions” as he seeks financial and other coverage to ensure the German can be retained for the long haul as Jamaica look to Russia 2018.

“I remain hopeful that by next week we will be able to wrap up advanced negotiations we are having with our partners in finally formalising the arrangements with Coach Schafer,” said Burrell.

Meanwhile, Schafer indicated that his heart is with Jamaica and that he wishes to stay in the country and build a programme with the 2018 World as the primary goal.

“Yes, I want to stay… but there are still some things to work out with Captain Burrell and I know we agree so we can move forward,” said the veteran coach.

“I continue to work on the programme for 2018 even if a contract is not in place as I am prepared to work until that is worked out,” Schafer told the Jamaica Observer in Montego Bay on Saturday.

Immediately after Jamaica’s final World Cup-qualifying match against Honduras at the National Stadium last month and uncertainty about his future with the programme, Schafer’s posture has been one suggesting he is prepared to hang around.

The German’s four-month contract is expected to expire on the day that Jamaica play the first leg of a home-and-away friendly series against Trinidad and Tobago’s Soca Warriors at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, on Friday night. The return game is scheduled for Trinidad four days later.

The series is being viewed as the start to the Russia 2018 campaign.

Schafer, who succeeded Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore as head coach, was hired in August to try and rescue Jamaica’s dying Brazil 2014-qualifying campaign, but his arrival proved too little too late as the Boyz missed out miserably on a World Cup repeat.

— SW