Montagliani vows to keep building as he is given another 4-year term as Concacaf president

February 26 - Concacaf members unanimously re-elected Victor Montagliani as Confederation President at its Congress in Guatemala. The four-year term will run from 2023 to 2027.

Montagliani (pictured) was first elected president in May 2016 to fill the remainder of the term vacated by Jeff Webb following his arrest following the FBI raids on FIFA in May 2015. He was re-elected without opposed in 2019 and went unopposed again this time around.

Thanking its members for their support, Montagliani said: "We have united as one Concacaf and have prioritized a football-focused agenda in our Confederation. Football First is about making sure that we put the game at the heart of every decision we make. Ultimately, football is not about who has the most income, trophies or medals, it's about people and our connection to each other with others through the beautiful game.

"I have said many times before that leadership is about service, not power. And my commitment to continue to serve and support all of our Member Associations is unwavering. At Concacaf, our unique characteristics are our courage, our passion and our perseverance to achieve our long-term goals. These characteristics, combined with our unity, are the 'secret sauce' of Concacaf and I truly believe that world football could do more with Concacaf." he continued.

Montagliani took over at a difficult time for Concacaf with the US Department of Justice dropping its world-changing bombshell on FIFA and world football.

As president of Canadian Soccer, he had already undertaken a reform of the governance of his own federation and in 2016, he was named Concacaf's representative on the FIFA reform committee. Reforming Concacaf's governance was not easy - especially with the dominant and generally wary Caribbean electoral bloc - but was achieved.

Since then, Montagliani has delivered on its promise to focus on competition and development opportunities for its member nations. This saw the introduction of the Nations League, the expansion of the Gold Cup to include a centralized preliminary round of 12 teams. Next season will see an expansion of the Champions League, while this season will see the newly formatted League Cup (played for the first time between all LigaMX and MLS teams) recognized with Champions League qualification .

In the women's game, Concacaf W's strategy yielded almost immediate results with the 8-team Concacaf W Championship in Monterrey, Mexico having now seen six teams qualify for the Women's World Cup in Australia/ New Zealand this summer. It should be noted, in terms of overall regional development, that Mexico's traditional power plant was not one of them.

"In fulfilling our continued mission to grow the game of football in our wonderful region, we will continue to be authentic in our dialogue, in our interactions and in our football. It is a global game that connects us all and we belongs to everyone,” Montagliani said.

Elections

Montagliani was not the only official elected or re-elected without opposition. Seven different member associations were represented on the Concacaf Council while Rodolfo Villalobos from Closta Rica swapped a position on the Concacaf Council for a sport on the FIFA Council.

Concacaf Council Member (Female): Sonia Fulford, Turks and Caicos Islands Vice-Chairman of the Concacaf Council (Caribbean): Randolph Harris, Barbados Vice-Chairman of the Concacaf Council (North America): Nick Bontis, Canada Vice-president of the Concacaf Council (Central America): Jorge Salomon, Honduras Concacaf Council Member (North America)*: Cindy Parlow Cone, USA Concacaf Council Member (Central America)*: Sergio Chuc, Belize Member of the FIFA Council (Central America): Rodolfo Villalobos, Costa Rica

Construction of infrastructure

Concacaf also announced that, following its bidding process, the confederation will build a state-of-the-art sports complex in the Dominican Republic.

“This facility will host centralized Concacaf competitions and football initiatives and will benefit all Concacaf associations,” Concacaf said. "The new sports complex will eliminate many of the travel and logistical challenges faced by Concacaf federations and provide a high quality facility that will benefit the entire Concacaf football family."

More details about the resort have not yet been released.

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