Tonight, football fans and supporters are elated because the President of FIFA is in Belize for his first-ever visit. He's Gianni Infantino. He became the 9th president of the world's governing body of football in February 2016.
He and a high-level FIFA delegation arrived in Belize last night, and today, the Football Federation of Belize rolled out the red carpet to give him and his team a royal welcome - the kind usually reserved for heads of state. Daniel Ortiz was there:
The FFB's new stadium, the bleachers, and the synthetic football pitch were all on display today, decorated with patriotic colors for the September Celebrations but also with soccer regalia.
Many groups of children who are under the tutelage of FFB trainers and coaches were running drills and workouts just in time to put on demonstrations for high-level executives of FIFA.
Gianni Infantino, the head of the world's governing agency for the sport of football, is in the middle of his very first visit to Belize, one of the smaller member countries of the FIFA Congress. After courtesy calls on the Governor-General, the Acting Prime Minister, and the Minister of Sports, President Infantino and his delegation stopped in at the FFB stadium to interact with a few of Belize's up-and-coming footballers who were completing training for the day.
Gianni Infantino - President, FIFA
"Let me just thank everyone and congratulate Sergio and the team, really from the bottom of my heart. You can really feel the football here, and the welcome has been very, very warm, not only because of the temperature outside [laughs] but warm from inside as well, which is the most important."
Sergio Chuc - President, Football Federation of Belize
"The Federation is honored that you and this High Powered delegation came to visit us to see for yourselves how we have been investing the FIFA Forward Funds. I'm happy that you like what you are seeing, and we will continue with the other part, which is the capacity building, which is the investment in the kids. You mention just now the Football For School program as the media might not know what they are, but you know that FIFA has 211 countries. Belize is country number 14 that is taking the advantage of using this opportunity of FIFA funding the Football for School Program."
According to the FIFA President, his administration is focusing on how best to develop the sport in the next generation of footballers who have dreams of turning their favorite recreation into a career.
Gianni Infantino - President, FIFA
"When you have the talent and when you have basic structures, you know, you don't you don't need to have the training center of the top professional teams in Europe to be able to train boys and girls. You need basic structures; you need expertise; you need the goodwill, and you need to implement it. And that's -all these ingredients, we found them here, with Sergio, with his team, and that's what we are putting in place."
But, since Infantino's tour of member countries is only a few months away from the next big elections for leadership executives for FIFA, some knowledgeable observers had suggested that Infantino's visit fits right in with his re-election campaign.
Gianni Infantino - President, FIFA
"[Laughs] Will you re-elect me next year?"
Sergio Chuc
"Of course, well, let me say that he doesn't have to worry about Belize because when I took over, the first meeting, this first summit we had in Hong Kong. The panel was there discussing how the funding would be best suited for developing countries. And initially, FIFA had proposed that the operational funds be half a million dollars and the project funds be three-quarter million dollars. And, we sat down in the group and debated it and said, you know what? The operation for us is more important. So we lobbied for a higher operation fund, and the committee looked at it and took our recommendation from Belize. And, the next thing we know, our operation funds, they reversed it. The operations funds became higher than the project funds. So, he is about listening to us and developing the countries that need it more, you know. So, I have absolutely no reservations about pledging again my support for Gianni Infantino."
Gianni Infantino
"Even if I wouldn't have come?"
Sergio Chuc
"Even if - you know I already sent you the nomination letter."
Gianni Infantino
"Exactly, exactly, a long time ago."
And that reciprocation of courtesy and respect between Belize's Sergio Chuc and President Infantino is based on FFB's commitment to the shared agenda of the continued development of the sport in Belize, as well as their high standards of accountability for spending FIFA funds.
After all, the world-class stadium at the FFB headquarters is probably the best facility in Belize at this time. But it started out as a financial nightmare. Several years ago, an initial 1.5 million dollars were spent - and wasted - on a pitch that did not meet international standards. That happened under another FFB executive, and under this new administration, 2.4 million dollars was spent to properly renovate the facilities during the pandemic.
From an overhead vantage point, FIFA basically double-spent on that facility.
Gianni Infantino - President, FIFA
"I've been visiting, in the last few years, over 160 countries around the world and I can tell you that this infrastructure here is already much, much better than many others in many parts of the world. So really, congratulations, and we keep on working on that at that pace, and we will invest even more. I really want to congratulate the President, Sergio Chuc, for what he did, because it's exactly true what you say. It was - Belize Football Federation was in a very poor state due to several circumstances. I mean, I can speak out of experience because FIFA was more or less in the same situation when I came to FIFA. And then when you know, when you are serious about it, when you are committed about it - we were discussing many times in the last few years, you know, where do we have to focus our investment, on the senior national team, or on the youths? No, we have to focus on the youths because that's the future. And, even if it takes a few years to build up, you need to have this vision, and you need to invest the money, and you have to do it in an open and transparent way. FIFA, compared to before I arrived, is now investing in every country seven times more. So we thought it was like $300,000 a year, 250,000, and now it's over 2 million every year - U.S. dollars - that we are investing. But we are not only investing. We are also making sure and controlling that the money is invested in the right places. But in Belize, since Sergio came, you know, this has changed completely. Everything is transparent. Every dollar that comes in is accounted for. Every dollar that goes out is accounted for."
