KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) says it’s preparing for the roll-out of the country’s World Cup campaign while decisions are being taken by the sport’s continental and world governing bodies on the timing and qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, the JFF said it fully and unequivocally supported the position of both FIFA and CONCACAF to put the health of all football stakeholders as the central reference point in all the discussions and decisions on this matter.
Last week, CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani said the ‘Hexagonal’ round of qualifying for next year’s World Cup in Qatar may have to be scrapped due to the disruption COVID-19 has caused in the sport. He was unable to give details about the reforms to the qualifying structure, although he did say the Hex would be a bigger competition and that he expected FIFA rankings would be used as a starting point for the new format.
The JFF said while it is awaiting final word, it has been getting organised.
It said President Michael Ricketts has personally convened monthly meetings involving technical leadership as well as the administrative leadership of the federation.
“In these meetings, matters related to players’ technical preparation as well as all the administrative support which will need to be in place have been discussed and are being monitored,” the JFF said.
“These meetings will continue as the president has clearly stated that the objective is, when the whistle blows, the federation must be ready in all aspects.”
The JFF said it has also been discussing the reality of financial challenges and a number of initiatives are being examined with the aim of facing that reality head-on.
In the meetings, Ricketts noted that the federation has promised the country that it would do everything possible to ensure the team is well-positioned to be in the top six of the CONCACAF ranking and top 50 in FIFA rankings for the start of the final round of qualifiers.
“With especially the commitment of the players, this was achieved on both fronts, and the federation now sees it as its next objective to make sure that the necessary preparation is in place to take the team through whatever qualification format is announced,” it said.
In this regard, Ricketts has indicated that Jamaicans at all levels will be fully engaged in the plans and the federation was looking forward to receiving the necessary support.
A six-team round robin format, referred to as the ‘Hexagonal’ or ‘Hex’, is usually used by CONCACAF as its World Cup qualifying tournament. The top three teams qualify directly for the finals, while the fourth-place team enters a playoff to book their ticket.
With football unable to be played as countries across the world remain in various stages of shutdown due to COVID-19, Montagliani has said that important international windows for playing qualifying matches ahead of the 2022 World Cup will be lost. The June window has already been postponed and the CONCACAF boss said he was not optimistic the September window would go ahead.
“I think on the balance of probabilities in terms of what has happened so far, and what likely will continue to happen, the current World Cup format will have to be changed, which means that ultimately the ‘Hex’ will have to be changed into some other form,” the FIFA boss said in an interview with Canada’s Onesoccer.com website last Tuesday.