Looking back on 2016, CONCACAF boss Victor Montagliani is reporting success in putting "the house in order" in the wake of the seismic corruption scandal that threatened to topple the confederation.
In 2015, a US Justice Department and FBI crackdown on top FIFA operatives ended with some 40 arrests, which included top CONCACAF officials, including its then president, Jeffrey Webb.
When he was elected to the post of president of the troubled confederation in May last year, Montagliani went into office burdened to restore the damaged image of CONCACAF and to implement reforms aimed at addressing crucial governance, accountability and transparency issues.
Seven months after settling into the hot seat, the Canadian sees the complex and broad-based exercise a highlight of his tenure so far.
"Putting the financial house in order of CONCACAF over a short period of time has been the highlight, not only generating increased revenue, but also putting in some good practices from a governance and fiscal management perspective. Culturally, that is something that is very important to the future of the organisation.
"The other highlight is that we have been able to put the house in order, and we have met about three occasions with the (association) presidents and you can see by coming together the people are seeing that anything is possible when we are united," Montagliani told the Jamaica Observer recently.
Though it was a period of tilling the soil in pulling the CONCACAF family back together after his historic victory over Bermudan Larry Mussenden for the presidency, for the Canadian businessman 2016 was also a success in terms of achieving targeted fundamental goals.
"There are really no known disappointments," Montagliani noted.
CONCACAF, the FIFA vice-president said, foresees a rich overall harvest for 2017, with the main breadwinner the Gold Cup as the star attraction.
"Of course the Gold Cup is this year and it is the last edition of 12 teams as we will increase it to 16 for the 2019 version," he said.
For this year, Montagliani says an aggressive campaign to bring the FIFA World Cup back to CONCACAF for 2026 will be pursued.
"We have been clear from the outset that the 2026 World Cup needs to come back to CONCACAF and we are tracking the right way and we will know more later from FIFA what the terms of reference are from a bidding standpoint.
"We will then put our best foot forward as a region, but also individually for those countries that could bid from our region, namely the USA, Mexico and Canada," he stated.
CONCACAF is the overarching body that governs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
(Jamaica Observer)