JFF's General Secretary Dennis Chung (centre) is flanked by General manager Roy Simpson (right) and Reggae Boyz assistant coach John Wall during a press conference at JFF's offices on Wednesday.
While admitting that things are far from perfect in certain regards, General Secretary Dennis Chung insists that the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) has made significant strides in an attempt to get its house in order to move away from the negativity that often overshadowed the country’s footballing success.
Chung’s assertions came as he provided the latest update of the governing football body’s finances, delivering on a promise to increase transparency and accountability at an organisation plagued by allegations of corruption and mismanagement.
“I've been here for a few months now, so I think it's timely to give an update as to where we are, what challenges we are still faced with and what progress has been made in relation to some of the things that I committed to at the start of my tenure here because I think that accountability is very important,” Chung told journalists during a press conference at the JFF’s St Lucia Avenue base.
On that note, Chung, revealed that the JFF finances, for the first time in a long time, reflected an $11 million surplus at the end of July, which he believes is testament to progress made.
“When we come in November one of the things, I said is that we need to recognize that changing and developing our product doesn't happen overnight, we're going to have hiccups. We've had some hiccups, but what we have attempted to do, which I think we have been successful in some respects, is to fix the brand,” Chung shared.
“You can’t drive the car until the car is fixed. The engine has to be fixed and, therefore, over the past few months we’ve been looking at the strategies for fixing the product because you can’t sell a product unless it’s fixed. So, recently, we’ve been getting in sponsors and the reason why we’ve been able to get sponsors is because we fixed the product that’s there,” he added.
That said, Chung addressed two widely circulated issues that he said were a misrepresentation of the facts aimed at condemning the Michael Ricketts-led administration. One of those issues involves a $107 million debt to the Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ), while the other surrounds another $30 million missing from the JFF coffers.
“The JFF unlike many organisations, have a Tax Compliant Certificate and we not only got it, but we updated and renewed it. That $107 million owed to TAJ is related to penalties and interest coming from as far back as before 2017.
“Last year we went into negotiations with the tax authority, and we paid off all the principals outstanding. The discussion at the time was, ‘show us that you’re keeping up to date with your payments’, which we did, and then by March we were able to apply for a write-off of the penalties and interest,” Chung, who is also an accountant explained.
He continued: “The other thing I saw people saying that $30 million is missing that was classified as miscellaneous, but that $30 million came up because when the audit was done, and the issue was that $30 million was not classified properly to the line item.
“I am an accountant, I know that many companies have that issue with their auditors, so we reclassified it and everything was classified successfully and we got the audit issued by the auditors. So that implication that there is money missing, there is no money missing, it was just how it was accounted for and then it was classified, so for me, where we are coming from is significant in terms of the accomplishment.
Finally, Chung is cognizant that they still have much more to do to achieve the level of comfort where trust in the JFF and, by extension, sustainable development of the country’s football is concerned.
“We would not have got the sponsorships if we did not fix the product. Now we are not at the level that we want yet, because we still have not finished fixing the product. But we've gone a far away in making inroads,” the general secretary ended.
Sherdon Cowan is a five-time award-winning journalist with 10 years' experience covering sports.
Napoli 2-2 Roma: Late Abraham header denies wasteful hosts
A wasteful Napoli were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Roma in Serie A, with a late Tammy Abraham header securing a point for the visitors.
The visitors took the lead from the penalty spot a minute before the hour mark, with Paulo Dybala converting after Juan Jesus fouled Sardar Amzoun.
However, Napoli equalised six minutes later through Matias Olivera's deflected shot, and completed the turnaround with their own penalty six minutes from time as Victor Osimhen tucked away after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was felled by Renato Sanches.
The hosts could not hold on, though, and were pegged back with two minutes to go. Substitute Abraham's header from a corner was eventually awarded following a VAR review after he had initially been ruled offside.
Data debrief
Napoli remain eighth in the Serie A table on 50 points, the exact amount they had registered after their opening 19 games of last season.
Though his penalty was not enough to earn Roma victory, Dybala continued his impressive start to 2024, during which he has been involved in the joint-most goals in Serie A with 12 (nine goals, three assists).
Nottingham Forest 0-2 Manchester City: Haaland back on the goal trail as defending champions march on
Erling Haaland returned from injury to keep Manchester City’s title charge on track as Pep Guardiola’s side secured a 2-0 victory over relegation-battling Nottingham Forest.
Josko Gvardiol’s near-post header was all that separated the two sides at half-time as he fired City in front from a Kevin De Bruyne corner.
Forest were left to rue big opportunities missed in the opening 45 minutes, with Chris Wood and Murillo both having gilt-edged chances to find an equaliser at the City Ground.
But Guardiola, overseeing his 300th Premier League game as City boss, called upon Haaland in the second half, and the Norway international duly delivered to double City’s lead and nudge the reigning champions back to within a point of leaders Arsenal, who beat Tottenham earlier on Sunday.
It was almost a dream opening minute for Forest as Ola Aina’s floated cross to the back post was met by an unmarked Neco Williams, but he failed to connect properly with a close-range shot.
Forest were made to pay when City opened the scoring in the 32nd minute. De Bruyne’s excellent delivery found Gvardiol, who powered a header home at the front post.
Wood should have restored parity shortly after, as he found himself in acres of space when Gonzalo Montiel cut it back on the volley, but the ball got caught up in the striker’s feet with the goal at his mercy.
Forest went agonisingly close again on the stroke of half-time, with Ederson – who was subsequently taken off at the break – fortunate not to concede after he failed to deal with Callum Hudson-Odoi’s corner, but Murillo could not apply the finish a few yards out.
Wood saw another huge chance pass by early in the second half, but his close-range effort was blocked after some excellent work from Anthony Elanga down the left.
De Bruyne showed his creative spark once again as he slotted a throughball behind the Forest defence in the 63rd minute, but Julian Alvarez’s effort from the edge of the area flew into the stands behind the goal.
Matz Sels was called into action moments later, palming behind De Bruyne’s thunderous long-range strike, which was heading for the top-left corner.
But City’s second finally arrived when, in the 71st minute, De Bruyne teed up Haaland, who calmly got the better of his marker, shifted it onto his right foot and slotted into the bottom-left corner to end Forest’s hopes of a comeback.
While City remain hot on Arsenal’s heels, Forest stay just one point above the relegation zone, having lost three of their last four matches.
Guardiola – 300 not out
Sunday marked Guardiola’s 300th Premier League game in charge of Man City, seeing him become the 19th manager to reach this total, and just the fifth to do so for a single club.
Of the 300 games under the Spanish manager’s tutelage, City have won 221, scoring 741 goals in the process, while only conceding 247 times.
City now have a four-point lead over Liverpool, whose title hopes are fading quickly, and an unprecedented fourth straight Premier League crown is certainly on the cards for Guardiola.
Forest’s recurring issues show no sign of abating
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have now conceded 29 first-half goals in 35 league games this season, with only Sheffield United (38) and Burnley (30) having conceded more.
The Tricky Trees – who are one of three teams fighting for 17th place after Everton hauled themselves to safety over the past week – have also conceded 23 goals from set-pieces this term in the competition, at least five more than any other team.
Despite being behind at the break, Forest’s xG of 1.27 was the most by any side in the first half of a game against City this season, in all competitions, with a wastefulness in front of goal another glaring problem that Nuno must fix.
Lyon are through to their 11th Women's Champions League final after sealing a 5-3 aggregate victory over compatriots Paris Saint-Germain.
The record eight-time winners scored three times in the final 10 minutes of last week's first leg to take a narrow 3-2 lead into the return fixture at Parc des Princes.
However, they were quicker out of the blocks in the second leg, with just three minutes on the clock when Selma Bacha drilled home from range for her first Champions League strike in five-and-a-half years.
Tabitha Chawinga responded before the break to reduce PSG's aggregate deficit to a single goal, but Melchie Dumornay put the tie beyond doubt nine minutes from time, as Sonia Bompastor's side set up a final showdown with Barcelona on May 25.
Data debrief
Lyon continued their dominance over PSG in Champions League semi-final encounters, having now progressed from each of their last four such ties.
The eight-time champions lost their first two semi-finals they contested in this competition, but have now won each of the last 10, and will seek a record-extending ninth title in Bilbao next month.
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