Club championships to go ahead without licensing process

The executive of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF) will go ahead with its planned activities, including the National Club Championships, despite not fulfilling a prerequiste, as laid down by CONCACAF and FIFA.{{more}}

The world governing body for football (FIFA), in January of this year, staged a club licensing workshop which was attended by second vice-president of the SVGFF Marvin Fraser, and which should have been followed by a process of sensitizing clubs here. However, this was not done.

Speaking at a press conference recently, president of the SVGFF Venold Coombs explained why this did not come to fruition.

“We were supposed to organize the Club Licensing System, as requested by CONCACAF/FIFA… All clubs are supposed to be licensed… Because of a lot of commitments, we have not organized it… We are going to write to CONCACAF to let them know that it was really and truly humanly difficult to get this thing going…. We [are] supposed to do that and I have to try and follow up on it,” Coombs disclosed.

He said clubs need to bear in mind that they need to be licensed and orientation seminars in that regard will be held.

“…If your clubs are not licensed you can [be] barred from taking part in a lot of things; from now on the clubs need to get organized.”

The president, however, noted that as soon as things are “okay” with the Victoria Park, following the recent Carnival celebrations, the SVGFF would be “back with the flow again with our national agenda in making sure that football continue[s] to thrive.”

FIFA’s Club Licensing System is based on five key criteria: sporting, personnel and administrative, financial, infrastructure and legal.

These criteria aim to safeguard the credibility and integrity of club competitions, while improving the level of professionalism within the football family and promoting transparency in the finances, ownership and control of clubs.(RT)