Canadian businessman Victor Montagliani believes the sub-regional political powerbroker of the Caribbean has an important role to play in the overall development of the umbrella group CONCACAF.

The 50-year-old, who on Monday officially declared his candidacy for the presidency of CONCACAF, noted that the 31-member bloc — like the rest of the subsets within the confederation — is an invaluable asset for his vision of governance, driven by the campaign mantra ‘One CONCACAF’.

“We can no longer govern ourselves in the three forks — which is the 31 Caribbean members, seven Central Americans and three North Americans. Those days are gone as we have to govern as one — One CONCACAF,” Montagliani told the

Jamaica Observer on Monday, just hours after declaring his candidacy for the top job in CONCACAF.

The president of the Canadian Soccer Federation, who is confident that he will be able to tap into the voter spread of the Caribbean in his bid to become CONCACAF president, noted that the next leader of the sub-continental body has to see himself as a man for the entire confederation, but in the same breath, must be in tune with the needs and be in full recognition of the value of each of the culturally diverse territories.

“I understand that the political clout is in the Caribbean and also that our greatest opportunity to raise CONCACAF to an international level [is there as well].

“I think what is required is a strategic person who understands what CONCACAF is about, understands the needs of the Caribbean. I understand the need is not the same, as that of Jamaica may be different to Aruba, for example, so even within the Caribbean the needs are not the same and we need to understand that,” said the CONCACAF executive committee member.

Montagliani argues that his vision of “aggregating the assets” within CONCACAF has the potential to bring unprecedented growth and development to all members, but more significantly to smaller association members.

“And that’s why we talk about aggregating our assets, as for too long we have not come together as one, and that’s why we need to aggregate, and not only our political assets, but also our business assets so that it benefits all the individuals,” he asserted.

Montagliani, who sits on FIFA’s legal committee, says if he should lead CONCACAF down the road, a plank of his development portfolio will be the “strategic” implementation of infrastructure.

“We need to have a strategic plan as it relates to the infrastructure of the game… I think one of the biggest needs in the Caribbean is the development of infrastructure, and especially coming from a corporate background in a country that is pretty wealthy in infrastructure, I think that kind of strategic planning is vital in the Caribbean over the next eight to 10 years for that region.

“I think that it is important going forward in our next cycle, and investment in infrastructure is one of the pillars in our strategic planning,” Montagliani ended.

The Canadian is facing challenges from Antiguan Gordon Derrick, Bermuda Football Association President Larry Mussenden and Canada-based Guyanese Mark Rodriguez.

With Montagliani already enjoying North American support for his bid, on Tuesday the Central American Football Union (UNCAF) officially declared its support for the Canadian.

“After the announcement of the candidacy of Mr Victor Montagliani for the presidency of CONCACAF, the seven member associations that form the Central American Football Union, UNCAF, have decided to inform their position taken on their meeting held in Panama City on January 25, 2016. By which they give their support and trust to Mr Victor Montagliani to become president of the confederation and his objective of creating one CONCACAF,” said a release from UNCAF.