Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
GIBSON
FINALLY, THE Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) has received J$26.3m (US$400,000) from FIFA, the world football governing body, towards the long-awaited Goal Project.
The JFF said after a Goal Bureau meeting in Zurich, Switzerland on March 15, approval of US$400,000 was given for the construction and development of Jamaica's Football Academy in Munro, St. Elizabeth.
PURCHASE LAND
Burchell Gibson, the JFF's general secretary, said the money will be used to close the deal to purchase the land that has been stalling for awhile.
"Basically, that US$400,000 is to complete the purchase agreement at the Munro Villa site," Gibson told The Gleaner yesterday.
The value of the land was estimated at $22m and the JFF had initially made a deposit of $2.6m but the land was recently advertised for sale after the deal was not concluded.
"What has been holding the deal is the funds and now that FIFA has approved the funds, we will advise them to pay over to the owners," said Gibson.
The four-block premises will have four rooms each and could be ready for accommodation in a short period of time.
Jamaica, Canada and Mexico joined five other national associations (Iceland, Libya, New Caledonia, Timor-Leste and Wales) as the first-time beneficiaries of the Goal Programme.
The Goal Bureau, under the chairmanship of Mohamed Bin Hamman (QAT) selected these associations for new projects and awarded second projects to the CONCACAF members: Dominica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Turks & Caicos Islands, joining the other associations of Cambodia, Laos, Bhutan, Guam, Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Malawi, São Tomé & Príncipe, Brazil, Chile, Latvia, Malta and Ukraine.
OWN TRAINING CENTRE
This brings the total number of FIFA members benefiting from the Goal Programme to 181.
The objective of the Goal Programme is to ensure that by the end of 2006, each and every member of FIFA will have its own headquarters and training centre (a house of football), which will thus complete the second overall phase of the programme.
At the meeting, the FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, pointed out that the third phase would be aimed largely at maintaining the facilities built with Goal funds.
The JFF can apply for another US$400,000 which will be to facilitate the playing fields among other things.
