In a historic move this week, three Saint Lucians have been appointed to standing committees of the global governing body for football, FIFA, for the next four years. Following a thorough consultation process involving FIFA member associations and regional confederations, standing committees were appointed after the October 2 FIFA Council Meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, to serve from 2025-2029.
Saint Lucia Football Association (SLFA) president Lyndon Cooper has been named deputy chair of the FIFA Development Committee. Examin Philbert, president of the Vieux Fort Football League, has been handed a seat on the FIFA Women’s National Team Competitions Committee. And Dr Natasha Innocent has been given a spot on the FIFA Medical Committee. These appointments, according to Cooper, are indicative of the sort of work that is being done to grow the sport locally and regionally.
“I wish to take this opportunity to extend my congratulations to Examin Philbert and Natasha Innocent on their respective appointments,” said Cooper, who is also president of the Caribbean Football Union. “The fact that their ability and work ethic has been recognised at the highest level of the sport speaks volumes. It should tell you that, as a country, we are on the right track in football when individuals who are involved in the growth of the game locally are being called to serve at higher levels.”
According to a release from the SLFA, FIFA “has expressed its pleasure and honour in extending these appointments, recognising the continued contribution and commitment of Saint Lucians to the development of football globally.”
FIFA standing committees report to the FIFA Council, advising and assisting the Council in their respective fields of function. The composition and structure, duties, and powers are determined by the FIFA Governance Regulations.
“The new Standing Committees will lead to the greater involvement of our member associations, the confederations, and other stakeholders in our decision-making processes, increased female representation, and more focused technical expertise in various areas relevant to football,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
“In other words, FIFA will be better equipped to face the future.”
These officials were afforded FIFA positions yet St Lucia did not even get to the second round of the CONCACAF WC qualifiers. These people have failed St Lucian football and I say this with no shame attached to it. What has Cooper achieve since becoming president of the FA? Simple answer is Nothing. Why is this man even at the helm of St Lucian football?
St Lucia lost to Curacao which is not a fully self-determined country. Curacao is part of the kingdom of Holland and should not be playing in this competition. Shame on the Lucian FA for allowing that to happen. If tiny Bermuda can be in there with the rest why can’t St Lucia be? I don’t think these guys should be afforded any positions with FIFA unless they can prove that their national side can achieve success. St Lucia have been vying for a position among the best in the Caribbean for many years and they have failed.
There are plenty of quality players who would like to play for the national team but they are not being given the opportunity to do so. I believe that St Lucia can play in the World Cup finals if they had an administration that cared about the national team. If Bermuda and Curacao can make it to the group stage of the qualifiers then so should St Lucia. Bermuda and Curacao are not even proper independent countries. They are dependencies of Holland and Britain respectively. Apart from Trinidad, Haiti, and Jamaica there’s no other Caribbean representation. This is down to poor administration in the region including St Lucia.
These men will no doubt serve their own vested self interests and not that of the nation. They should have resigned after the country failed to make it to the second round of the World Cup Qualifiers. Why is FIFA so inept?
These officials have to be careful when taking positions with FIFA. Look at what happened to Jack Warner and Jeffrey Webb from the Cayman Islands. FIFA have been corrupt to the hilt and have been for many years now. What have these folks done to get these positions? I ask this because I see little progress on the island as far as football/soccer is concerned. There is no progressive league or competition and footballers have had to seek green pastures elsewhere. St Lucian can most certainly do better than that.
St Lucia is not even being featured in next year’s World Cup in the USA, Canada Mexico. Why bother giving positions to people who have failed their country? Who are the ones at FIFA sanctioning these posts? I would like to see more berths for Caribbean teams in the World Cup. I was hoping to see a Caribbean team playing as a unit much in the same way the cricket team has done for the past 97 years. But that is NOT gonna happen as we are not united in the region. A Caribbean team would have been formidable with the pedigree of players that we have in the region and elsewhere. We could have even win the World Cup.
There are players in Holland, France, Germany, Britain Belgium who can all qualify to play for a Caribbean team. Why won’t FIFA give this the green light? – The ICC did for the West Indies cricket team and they dominated cricket for many years winning four respective World Cups. I would like these folks to explain to us about the national team’s failures over the years. Why is St Lucia so low down in the standings and why can’t they get to the group stages?
Football should be taken seriously if St Lucia is going to become a force to be reckoned with in the World of Football. The St Lucian FA ain’t ready yet. They are largely incompetent and indolent and the people running it should not be near anything that has to do with football.
I tend to agree with most of what Black Briton said. St Lucia have once again failed to make it to the World Cup. The people like he said who are running the FA don’t care about St Lucian football. They really don’t.
Look at how a tiny country like St Lucia have made it to the World Cup finals next year. I am referring to Cape Verde of course which is off the coast of West Africa. If Cape Verde can make it the I see no reason why St Lucia cannot make it. Time and time and year after year these officials keep failing us – They keep failing the National team. I am calling for all of them to be removed or shown the door.
What will these officials do at FIFA? If they cannot motivate their own national team then there’s nothing they can do at FIFA. Football is big business and the Lucian FA needs to know about this. They need to leave their small mindedness behind.. They should be adopting a positive attitude if St Lucia is going to move forward. FIFA is not allowing the smaller islands of the Caribbean a chance of making it thru. They only allow them one game and once they get beaten they are booted out of the competition. That is grossly unfair and not the way to go.
There should like groups where teams can qualify from there. We should NOT be playing with the North and Central American teams that don’t like us. We should be playing among ourselves as Caribbean teams. Let Central South and North American teams play among themselves. We are not on their continents– We are Caribbean and always will be. I really don’t like what the Lucian FA is doing as well as FIFA by not putting us in groups in our own archipelago. That is how they do it on other continents.