DENNIS Chung, general secretary of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), says he is pleased that his organisation has cleared up all balances that were owed to members of the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup team.

During the recent World Cup the Reggae Girlz earned goalless draws with France and Brazil, and a 1-0 victory over Concacaf rivals Panama ensured progression from the group stage before they were eliminated 0-1 by Colombia in the knockout stage.

The Girlz then made themselves unavailable for the first two Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup qualification games against Panama and Guatemala, stating that they were fed up of the continued “mistreatment” of them by the JFF.

The players were said to have agreed to 20 per cent of the Fifa prize money paid to the JFF before going off to Australia. The Girlz demanded that all outstanding monies be paid before the October window closed.

The players were due to earn 20 per cent of US$1.8 million, but the JFF only received US$1.2 million after Fifa withdrew funds owed to them. The Girlz insisted on being paid from the full $1.8 million, not the reduced sum.

The JFF then had stated that there is an additional amount they are meant to receive, based on an application, and once it is obtained the JFF will pay the remainder.

“We are very pleased to liquidate it,” Chung told the Jamaica Observer.

“I mean, we have always been committed to doing that and we have always said that once we were able to do that, it would have been done. So we have now liquidated it so we are good.

“It was just that we understood that it was an issue, and because of that it was holding up the availability. So, we just issued that and got it out of the way. We had worked very hard to get it done and it is done now,” the general secretary said.

The JFF in a release on Friday stated it will also start processing payments to all players who played in the qualifying rounds but were not in the final World Cup squad.

Because members of the World Cup squad were unavailable for the first two games, interim Head Coach Xavier Gilbert was forced to select a 23-member roster of fringe players for both games against Panama and Guatemala. The Reggae Girlz were defeated 1-2 away to Panama on Wednesday and are now due to meet Guatemala at National Stadium on Sunday.

Chung was impressed with the Girlz’s performance and expects a much better showing on Sunday.

“They did excellent. I mean, they came together — they haven’t played together before — and they had one hour worth of training and were very competitive. They did very well.

“We expect them to do well on Sunday. We met with them today, had lunch with them, and they are in good spirits. Everybody is looking forward to representing the country and doing very well,” Chung said.