JFF could lose a billion - ... as Covid set to suspend international football for 2020

April 20, 2020
Dalton Wint
Dalton Wint
Reggae Boy Peter-Lee Vassell
Reggae Boy Peter-Lee Vassell
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Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) general secretary Dalton Wint says that the federation stands to lose close to $1 billion should Jamaica's home games in the World Cup qualifiers not be held this year.

The Reggae Boyz are still ranked fourth in the Concacaf region and would contest the hexagonal round of the qualifiers should placings remain the same by the cut-off point in June. Wint's comments comes on the heels of Concacaf president Victor Montagliani expressing doubts to the possibility of any international matches being played in the September, October and November windows because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Qualifying is pushed back

Games during that window would include the World Cup qualifiers. When asked how much income the federation stands to lose if the start of qualifying is pushed back to next year, Wint said that the financial fallout could be extremely substantial.

"Millions, probably heading towards a billion dollars or more," Wint told STAR Sports. "We were entering into World Cup qualifiers and we had the potential of earning quite a sum of money not only for home games but for sponsorship and that is virtually on hold for now."

International games in March and June have already been suspended by FIFA, which included the Gold Cup qualifiers and the Concacaf Nations League Finals. Montagliani hinted that games could be pushed back to 2021 but no official decision has been made yet.

Wint says that he anticipates a struggle for sponsorship with companies regrouping due to their response to the current health situation, but is hopeful in the regional and international governing bodies to lend some support and guidance during this situation

"I know that when this (pandemic) is lifted. the sponsors will be struggling. Because they will have staff to pay, they have to retool, they have to do a lot of other things. It is a huge dent in our operations," he said. "But we have been speaking to FIFA and Concacaf and we are positive that some good will come out of it this conversation that we are having."

Mexico, United States, Costa Rica and Honduras are the other teams that are poised to be involved in the final round of qualifying with either El Salvador or Canada joining them

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