JUST over a month following Cedella Marley’s resignation as the Reggae Girlz global ambassador, president of Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Michael Ricketts says he would welcome her return to the national women’s programme.

Marley was crucial in the return of Jamaica’s senior women’s team in 2014 after the programme had been dormant for six years. Since the programme’s return the Reggae Girlz, with Marley’s support, created history when they qualified for the Fifa Women’s World Cup in 2019 and 2023.

However, with the ongoing impasse between the senior members of the team and the JFF, Marley quit her role in January, citing her “disappointment and growing concern with the way the team has been treated, especially in recent months”. The Bob and Rita Marley foundations also discontinued their financial support for the national women’s programme.

But speaking to the Jamaica Observer, Ricketts is hopeful the Marley family will make a U-turn.

“Cedella and I have an excellent relationship and we have had conversations, not in detail, as to ask of them to come back. But we are here, the door is open if they wish to. Of course, we would have seen their great value for what they have done for women’s football so we would grasp the opportunity with both hands if they ever think about wanting to come back,” he said.

The Observer was unable to get a response from Marley up to press time but in her public statement in January she said will continue investing in women’s football in Jamaica, the region, and the Diaspora through her Football is Freedom initiative, and will continue to support the Reggae Girlz whom she says are “family for life”.

Representatives of the national senior women’s team who played at last summer’s Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia have rejected call-ups over the last five months, including the upcoming international friendlies against Chile, due to financial issues with the JFF.

The Observer has learnt that the involved parties have met virtually within the last two months. The JFF insists that it has paid the players all that they were owed and are awaiting a response from the team’s representatives who are analysing the financial documents submitted by the JFF.

Ricketts said he expects the stand-off to end in the coming weeks.

“We are very optimistic that it will happen soon. We don’t want to be in a fight with our players — it’s simply not good. We want to embrace our national players and we are saying: ‘Make yourselves available and you’ll be selected,’ ” he said.

JFF’s Women’s Committee Chairperson Elaine Walker-Brown is also expecting a resolution shortly.

“It [has been] blown out of proportion. And, you know, I stayed away from what was happening and what has been said because the picture being painted is not that bad. Some of the players are not involved and they are interested in [playing for] Jamaica [again]. Once you want to play for Jamaica, the door is open,” she said.

Although desirous of their return, Walker-Brown believes the situation has led to a long-standing dream of hers.

“We have a very big pool, and this is what I wanted a long time ago. We have about 60, 70 players now so we have an ‘A’ team and a ‘B’ team. We’re going to occupy all the Fifa windows [this year] so we can send the ‘B’ team, ‘A’ team, and the development team. We have a lot of work to do and we are preparing to go to the next World Cup in 2027,” Walker-Brown said.

This week, interim Head Coach Xavier Gilbert is to lead a 22-member squad to Chile to face the hosts on Friday, February 23 and on Tuesday, February 27.