JAMAICA Football Federation (JFF) General Secretary Dennis Chung says the presence on the island of one of football’s greatest icons, Lionel Messi, has left a lasting impact on Jamaica’s football scene.

This follows Inter Miami’s 2-0 win over Cavalier in the Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16 at the National Stadium on Thursday.

The match, which drew a crowd of over 35,000 spectators, is being hailed as the biggest club game in Jamaica’s history. Louis Suarez and Messi were the goalscorers for Inter Miami, who have now advanced to the quarter-finals. Cavalier also lost the first leg 2-0 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a week earlier.

“We saw the response from the crowd and everything,” Chung said. “The game was aired on ESPN so the global presence was good for Jamaica — and I am sure that the minister of sports [Olivia Grange] was happy with it.

“The crowd was massive. Because the last time we saw that amount of people at the National Stadium it would maybe be the ISSA Boys’ and Girls’ Championships, so it was great to see so many persons turning up for a football game in Jamaica.”

Chung says the momentum generated by the game has also sparked optimism about the future of football in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region. He says that previous games at the National Stadium had already been drawing large audiences.

“The last game that we [Reggae Boyz] had at the National Stadium we had over 21,000 people, and so I think that the support will be there because Jamaicans want to see good football,” he said.

“The interest has been improving, and with Avery Campbell [JFF’s marketing manager] there and Tanya Lee (a JFF ambassador), we have been having some very good discussions with [sponsors], so I think that sponsorship will improve.”

Chung says that beyond attendance figures, the impact of Messi’s visit extends to expanding the sport’s visibility and attracting new opportunities for investment.

“We have been expanding the product in terms of viewership — not just in Jamaica but globally also — and expanding the footprints for the sponsors and so I think that it will keep improving,” he said. “This will help the whole thing about how people view football in Jamaica because it brings a certain presence.”

The Reggae Boyz are set to face St Vincent and the Grenadines in Concacaf Gold Cup qualifiers. The first leg will take place away at Arnos Vale Stadium on March 21, with the second leg set for March 25 at Sabina Park.