JFF braces for busy season
Published:Wednesday | July 12, 2023 | 12:08 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
THE JAMAICA Football Federation (JFF) has been bracing for what it said will be the busiest period in the organisation’s history for international matches.
The Reggae Boyz and Girlz will play a total of 12 matches from September 8 to December 3, a fixture list general secretary Dennis Chung said could run the JFF more than $1 billion in expenses.
At a press conference at the JFF on Monday, where the federation received more than $9 million in sponsorship through the combined efforts of the Ministry of Sport, Sagicor, Supreme Venture Limited and Wisynco, under its WATA brand, Chung called on the corporate community to come on board.
Chung said both teams have the opportunity to go on and achieve great things and that any support they got would help boost their quest to achieve their goals.
He also pointed out that many of their current sponsors are reaping the benefits of being associated with the Reggae Boyz and Girlz and insists new sponsors will experience similar benefits if they join the team as well.
“We have 12 games over that four-month period. Half of them are going to be home games but it is a significant amount of logistics and travel arrangements and this doesn’t include any of the youth teams. So we need to ensure the whole of Jamaica is behind us, especially with how well we are doing,” said Chung.
According to Chung, to go to Australia and back costs more than $100 million in travel cost alone and then there were hotel costs, per diems, match fees and other logistics costs.
“So we are looking at least $150 million for the World Cup for the Girlz. With the men at the Gold Cup, we expect it to come to over $400 million for these two tournaments alone. Then from September until the end of the year, we are looking at least $100 million per match. So we are talking about over $1 billion,” he continued.
He said every bit counts and the JFF will take all the assistance they can get, no matter how small.
In September, the men will play two matches on the eighth and the 12th, while the women play on the 22nd and the 26th.
In October, they play another four games, with the men playing on the 12th and 15th and the women on the 25th and 29th.
Then in November, the men have two matches, while the women will have one. The women close out the fixture list with a game on December 3.
JFF president, Michael Ricketts, who spoke to the gathering virtually, noted that the organisation also had to consider an under-15 Boyz and an under-14 Girlz competition during the period under review.