With the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) seeking greater funding to run the local football programme, Concacaf President Victor Montagliani says the regional body will be looking to increase its support.

Montagliani, who has served as president for the past eight years, visited the island last week. He met with JFF executives as well as Jamaica’s Sports Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange.

Although the JFF has made headway in improving its financial status with the massive reduction in deficit and increase in cash flow, the federation has admitted that millions more will be needed to efficiently carry out its duties long term. JFF General Secretary Dennis Chung recently told the Jamaica Observer that FIFA, adidas, the Government, and corporate sponsorships are the JFF’s main sources of funding.

While admitting it’s a worldwide issue, Montagliani, who is also a FIFA vice-president, says Concacaf is doing its best to alleviate it.

“It’s not just Jamaica and the Caribbean, I would say out of 211 FIFA nations, 75 per cent of them are in the same boat. Very few have means beyond what they need from their confederation or FIFA itself and most of them are likely located in Europe and a couple in South America, so the reality is everybody is in the same boat,” he told the
Observer.

“The good news is that before, this confederation was never in a position to give funding. We started very small in 2016 and we’ve grown that amount of funding to our member associations by 200 per cent, and we will be increasing that as the years go on, because it’s done in a very responsible way.”

Montagliani believes associations around the region should be treated as businesses and that the JFF is making significant progress in that regard.

“The real secret to that is we’re not just giving funding but trying to institute this accountability, responsibility, and financial controls to our member associations. It’s not just about funding, there’s two sides to a profit and loss statement. There’s income then there’s expenses, so it’s not always about one over the other. As my grandmother would say, you have to take care of your money because when you don’t have money, it takes care of itself,” he said.

“So we’re trying to build businesses in federations. Yes, they’re non-profit [organisations], but we’re trying to build businesses and fiscal responsibility, and I know that’s being done here at the JFF with Dennis [Chung]. Sometimes it’s breaking habits, what their expectation is and it’s about being very disciplined and that has to happen at the federation level. It’s a bit of a cultural shift, but if you do it the right way, the business will grow and grow.”

Canadian Montagliani was also full of praise for the on-field success Jamaica has achieved over the years.

“Things are looking really good in that gold and green jersey that’s being worn in our region. Even your youth teams have been very successful, Under-20 and Under-17.

“The talent has always been here, and I think now, since the momentum of [qualification for World Cup] 1998 of how things were being done, with the last few years, with the opportunities that the players are having through our Concacaf competitions, you’re seeing the talent come to fruition here in Jamaica in terms of success on both the women’s and men’s sides.”