CONCACAF president and Special Adviser to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation Jack Austin Warner was honoured by the Executive Committee of FIFA for his dedicated and consistent service to world football, in particular towards his country in its 100 years as a football nation yesterday.
Warner revealed that the draw for the CONCACAF Final Round of qualification, which begins in February, 2009, will take place in Johannesburg on November 23 and representatives from the six countries will be invited to attend. He expressed pleasure at receiving the award which was unexpected.
“It came as a surprise to me because of the fact that Mr Blatter and Mr Platini were in Trinidad at the Centre of Excellence last month during which time they presented several awards to the country and the Football Federation as a mark of its 100 years of football life,” Warner said.
“But he (Blatter) said that this was a mark of their appreciation for the efforts of Jack Warner in helping to take Trinidad and Tobago’s football to the rest of the world and my overall contribution to world football having come from a small country such as Trinidad and Tobago which is the smallest country to ever qualify for a Senior World Cup, host a men’s Under-17’s World Championship, and also a country which will now host the 2010 FIFA Women’s Under-17 World Championship,” he added.
Warner, a FIFA vice president, also chairman of the organising committee for the FIFA Under-17 World Championship, revealed that a decision was taken that Nigeria will no longer host the 2009 FIFA Under-17 World Championship.
Attempts are being made to have another African nation host the tournament and if not, then the tournament will be hosted by CONCACAF.