We extend heartiest congratulations to Mr Victor Montagliani on his election to the presidency of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) on Thursday.

The 50-year-old Canadian, who heads his country’s football association, defeated Mr Larry Mussenden, Bermuda’s football boss, in a historic secret ballot, and quickly made it clear that he intends to push his philosophy of ‘One CONCACAF’, his campaign slogan which he hopes will help burnish the image of the regional body.

As we reported yesterday, Mr Montagliani has vowed to bring more transparency to CONCACAF, starting from the top. People who follow the sport will recall that in February when he announced his candidacy, Mr Montagliani stated in an open letter that scandals have sullied the sport and badly undermined the public’s trust in football’s governing bodies.

To recover from that, he said football must be “governed in a principled and professional way that, above all else, protects the integrity of the game”.

We agree with him and will hold him to his word, because the CONCACAF region, and indeed world football’s governing body FIFA, have been badly smeared by allegations of corruption that resulted in some of the sport’s senior administrators being indicted or suspended.

Although the investigations into alleged wrong doing by former FIFA and ex-CONCACAF officials have not yet ended, it is important that both organisations renew themselves as they preside over what is really a multibillion-dollar industry.

Anyone who doubts that need only consider this week’s report by Forbes magazine that the world’s 20 most valuable football teams are worth an average of US$1.44 billion, 24 per cent more than the top 20 teams were worth a year ago.

Forbes also told us that the English Premier League has inked a US$7.9-billion three-year deal with Sky Sports and BT Sport that starts with the 2016-17 season. In addition, teams have signed lucrative uniform deals, a prime example being the US$130-million-a-year pact between Manchester United and Adidas.

Add to that the fact that this year’s UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid will earn each team more than US$100 million and you get a picture of the scale of the business.

Mr Montagliani obviously appreciates the fact that an industry generating that type of money needs people with business savvy and organisational skill. As such, he has indicated that his immediate priority is the Copa America Centenario.

“We have to get it right because it’s a big project and a source for significant income to the confederation,” he told this newspaper. We wish him well and hope that the tournament will be successful.