FIFA Scandal Has Rocked CONCACAF: Barbados Football Chief
On Thursday, CONCACAF announced that their president Jeffrey Webb had been "provisionally dismissed" and senior vice-president Alfredo Hawit installed as interim head.
Barbados Football Association (BFA) President Randy Harris says the scandal that has rocked CONCACAF, the governing body of football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, has left "an air of despondency" in the confederation.
Harris' comments came after Swiss law enforcement authorities swooped down on a hotel here and arrested several CONCACAF and FIFA officials, including CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb. Also a FIFA vice-president, Webb was among the nine current and former football officials along with five corporate executives, subsequently named in the 47-count indictment announced by the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), reports CMC.
On Thursday, CONCACAF announced that Webb had been "provisionally dismissed" and senior vice-president Alfredo Hawit installed as interim head.
"Basically it came out of the blue. When we awoke (Wednesday) morning we heard the news and obviously we were shocked because just the night before we had a cocktail reception with some of the persons who were nabbed," said Harris, who is here for Friday's FIFA presidential election.
"There is an air of despondency here. Obviously we are very, very concerned that some of those nabbed are members of CONCACAF."
Webb was only last month elected CONCACAF president for his first full term in-charge and was set to be installed during the FIFA Congress, which got underway Thursday. Ironically, he took over the helm of the confederation in 2012, after a similar corruption scandal claimed long serving football strongman Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago.
Harris said during his relatively short time in-charge, Webb had built strong relationships with regional associations.