GFF still undecided as to who to support

—-Says Clinton Urling

Chairman of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Normalization Committee Clinton Urling said the federation is still unsure of whom it will support at the impending May 29th International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) Presidential elections.

President of Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Jeffrey Webb in an earlier interview with Reuters during the month of March,  declared that member associations CONCACAF will not be forced to vote as a block.

Clinton Urling and FIFA president Sepp Blatter at the congress
Clinton Urling and FIFA president Sepp Blatter at the congress

Webb during the interview further said he is comfortable with the idea of member associations supporting and voting for different candidates at the impending Presidential elections.

FIFA head Sepp Blatter who allegedly held the support of the CONCACAF region under former president Jack Wagner, will be up against former Portugal winger Luis Figo, Dutch Football Association President Michael van Praag and Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein.

Blatter, who was elected to office on June 8th 1998 at the 51st FIFA Congress, has received vocal support at the Congress from the federations of Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, Turks and Caicos, Cuba, Panama, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Puerto Rico.  In an exclusive interview from the 30th CONCACAF Congress in the Bahamas, the FIFA Appointed chairman declared “The GFF is still undecided on the issue of who it will support for the FIFA presidency next month”.

Quizzed if discussions will be held with the GFF affiliates to arrive voting choice, he said “We will send out requests for opinions from our membership on this issue, which will help to guide our decision making in Zurich”.

“The elections will be conducted via secret ballot and we would leave our final decision there and not make it public” Urling added.

According to Urling “At the CFU and CONCACAF Congresses on April 15 and 16 respectively, I met all the candidates and they presented their manifestos and positions on what they will do if elected”.

Asked what is the timeframe for FIFA to respond with regards to the GFF draft constitution, Urling said “The Constitution reform process will continue shortly and the appropriate information will be sent to our Membership in due course”.

Questioned what were some of the major amendments put forward and sent to FIFA in the intial draft, he said “Once notice (one month) is given of the Extraordinary Congress to adopt the constitution, the amended draft will be shared with the Membership and the media will be privy to what the contents are then”.