 Mussenden & Governor George Fergusson IslandStats.com
Derrick, the current President of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), issued a statement in which he claimed the reason for his withdrawal from the race was to do with his involvement in the cash for votes scandal in the FIFA Presidential election in 2011.
The Antiguan was reprimanded by world football’s governing body and $311 after Qatar’s Mohamed bin Hammam, who attempted to challenge then incumbent Sepp Blatter for the top job in the sport that year before withdrawing three days before the vote.
Derrick’s issue dates back to a meeting in the Caribbean, on May 10th & 11th 2011, that was attended by Bermuda Football Association Second Vice-President Gregory Grimes and General Secretary David Sabir. It was alleged that at the meeting, CFU nations including Bermuda were offered US$40,000 in return for supporting bin Hammam at the June 1st FIFA presidential election.
The CFU President said in a statement he received a letter “from the FIFA Audit and Compliance Committee, informing me that I cannot be admitted as a candidate for the election to the office of FIFA Vice-President”.
“This, by extension, bars me from being a candidate for the CONCACAF Presidency,” it read.
“The letter from Chairman of the Audit and Compliance Committee Domenico Scala cited a November 17, 2011 reprimand following the Bin Hammam matter, for which I was fined CHF 300, and an ongoing investigation that began over a year ago, on March 6, 2015.”
FIFA had declined to comment further on the specific reasons for declaring Derrick ineligible, with Scala insisting they were “not in a position to go into further details with regard to this decision”.
“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,” a statement from world football’s governing body read.
“As such, the Audit and Compliance Committee has conducted eligibility checks with regard to several candidates for the office of CONCACAF president and FIFA vice-president, respectively, as well as for candidates for the office of member of the FIFA Council (CONCACAF).”
The President of CONCACAF automatically becomes a FIFA vice-president and also takes up a seat on the FIFA Council, which will replace the ruling Executive Committee.
The role as head of the body has been a poisoned chalice in recent years, with the last three Presidents including Alfredo Hawit, Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands and Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago, all having been involved in widespread corruption within world football.
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