FIFA PRESIDENTIAL hopeful David Nakhid, the former national football team midfielder and captain, presented his vision for the future of world football at a press conference hosted in the VIP Lounge, Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo on Thursday morning.
Nakhid pointed out the huge difference in the organisation of the game in a place like Europe as compared to places on the “periphery” such as the Caribbean, Africa or Asia. He especially focused on the model in Europe of bringing “grassroots” football into the entire structure of the game including professional clubs and leading to national team representation.
Attention was also given to the fact that the regional championship, the Gold Cup, has never been hosted in the Caribbean despite these countries having over 75 percent of the voting power in CONCACAF.
Nakhid used this example to reinforce the point that the region is willing to use its power for the benefit of other “bigger” countries in return for tokenism.
“The time is now for countries like us in the Caribbean to sit at the head table and make decisions instead of having decisions made for us,” the outspoken Nakhid declared.
Over the past three weeks, Nakhid has met with several football associations in the Caribbean and has received very positive responses.
Each potential candidate requires five nominations in order to be eligible to contest the FIFA election.
While Nakhid is confident he can get the five, he especially wants his home country Trinidad and Tobago to publicly endorse him and he desires that all 25 Caribbean nations nominate him in order to galvanise support and momentum as he tackles the other Federations.