MIAMI, United States, CMC – Caribbean Football Union head, Gordon Derrick, has been barred by football’s world governing body, FIFA, from running for CONCACAF president, after failing an integrity check.
Antiguan Derrick was one of three officials bidding for top post along with Canadian Soccer Association president, Victor Montagliani and Bermuda Football Association chief, Larry Mussenden, but FIFA announced Tuesday he could not proceed as a candidate.
“The Audit and Compliance Committee has concluded that one candidate, Mr Gordon Derrick from Antigua & Barbuda, could not be admitted as a candidate for the office of CONCACAF President nor FIFA vice-president nor the FIFA Council,” Chairman of the FIFA Audit and Compliance Committee, Domenico Scala, said in a statement.
“For privacy reasons we are not in a position to go into further details with regard to this decision. The person concerned has been informed.”
The development will come as a blow to Derrick who last February announced his intentions to run for the top post in the troubled North, Central American and Caribbean confederation.
And he had been hoping to be one of the candidates heading into the elections at CONCACAF Ordinary Congress scheduled for May 10 in Mexico City.
Those elections will be conducted by CONCACAF’s Ad Hoc Electoral Committee and monitored by representatives of FIFA’s Audit and Compliance Committee, along with their legal department.
Derrick has served as CFU president for the last four years, after replacing Trinidadian Jack Warner in 2012, following the cash-for-votes scandal which rocked Caribbean football.
Regional officials were accused of taking cash inducements of US$40 000 in return for votes for FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam back in 2011.
Following investigations by FIFA, Derrick one of was several officials reprimanded and fined over “apparent violations” of its ethics code.
CONCACAF is attempting to recover following yet another corruption scandal which claimed elected president Jeff Webb and his replacement, Alfredo Hawit.
Webb, who was arrested and charged last year, subsequently pleaded guilty to charges against him, and is currently awaiting sentencing in June.
Hawit on Monday also pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy charges.
CONCACAF’s president automatically becomes a FIFA vice-president and a member of FIFA’s powerful executive committee.