WITH the fate of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) presidency set to be known in the coming days, incumbent Michael Ricketts continued the defence of his stewardship, pointing to the lowering of the organisation’s debt as one of the greatest achievements during his tenure.

Ricketts has overseen local football’s governing body since 2017 and is seeking another four-year term. He is, however, being challenged by current JFF Vice-President Raymond Anderson ahead of Sunday’s elections.

Before 2020 JFF had announced that their total debt had exceeded $300 million. However, by the end of 2023 General Secretary Dennis Chung disclosed that they had managed to reduce the deficit by almost fifty per cent, leaving them with a current debt bill of $170 million.

Ricketts told the Jamaica Observer that his team has made substantial progress in assisting the federation to achieve financial sustainability.

“Our finance department, our counting department, the general secretary, all have done excellent jobs as it relates to managing the economy here. We have significantly cut our deficit and our debts and we are now very current as it relates to our statutory deductions, so much so that we have our own Tax Compliance Certificates — something that we have not had in more than a decade. These are all positive strides,” Ricketts said.

Ricketts has high hopes that additional financial backing will be provided in the near future to help reduce the debt even further.

“Surely our contract with Adidas will go a very far way in helping to reduce our debts [as] we will now be in a position to be far more liquid as it relates to meeting our obligations; and, of course, once we are in line with Fifa’s requirements then we will get whatever support from our parent organisations — CFU [Caribbean Football Union], Concacaf and Fifa. We just want to do things right from a commercial standpoint and then I’m pretty certain that the sky is the limit in every aspect of the sport. Things seem to be on a path of recovery; we just want to get the election over with and get serious about football,” he added.

The Reggae Boyz are also expected to bring much-needed income to JFF’s coffers as they participate in this summer’s South American showpiece, the Copa America, as well as the finals of the Concacaf Nations League which kicks off in the USA next week.

Although the final income total will not be determined until after both tournaments have concluded, Ricketts says Jamaica is guaranteed to receive $31 million for their participation.

“If you win the Nations League, it’s US$2 million ($310 million); if you’re the runner-up it’s a million ($155 million); if you’re third, it’s US$600,000 ($93 million); and if you’re fourth it’s US$200,000 ($31 million) — so already we would have qualified for some financial rewards because, as it stands now, we can’t finish less than fourth,” he said

“For the Copa we’ll be paid some funds. I’m not sure yet, we’re waiting on that, but things are looking a lot better. We just hope that, like Jack Warner said, the nightmare is over and then we can get serious. So far things are looking up and this year could very well be a year when the JFF will have a number of things to be proud about,” Ricketts added.