At the Soccerex Global Convention held Tuesday September 9th, CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb spoke out against FIFA and racism, calling for a complete overhaul of FIFA’s governing bodies. Following several controversies after the announcement of Russia and Qatar being selected as future sites for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups respectively, Webb stated “With all due respect, I don’t think FIFA has done a great job communicating its message over the years and its image and public perception is affecting the game.”

Webb, who represents North and South America as well as the Caribbean, spoke to fellow delegates at Soccerex stating that FIFA was behind the times, and that only a major overhaul would enact the necessary change in order to move the sport forward. However despite his strong opinions, Webb stated that he had no interest in challenging incumbent president Sepp Blatter who recently announced his aspirations for a fifth consecutive term as FIFA president.

Webb is not only the CONCACAF president, but also a member of the FIFA task force charged with eliminating racism in soccer. Webb spoke frankly about the issue that still effects the sport even in 2014, “Sadly, I think we will still be fighting racism in 10 years time.”

Representing CONCACAF as well, Webb made his case for an added spot for CONCACAF in future World Cups increasing to four spots from the current 3.5 spots. “We should have four slots. We have shown it on the field, we have earned it over the last two or three tournaments,” said Webb. With three of CONCACAF’s four teams who played in Brazil advanced out of the group stage, with the fourth in Costa Rica making it to the final eight before losing to the Netherlands on penalty kicks.

Looking to 2018 Webb states that the World Cup should be looking at a CONCACAF region to host the 2026 tournament, when voting commences in 2018 all of FIFA’s 209 members will be voting and not just the immediate executive committee. Webb stated, “By then it will be 32 years and that is long enough. We were hard done by when rotation (around the confederations) stopped and it should return to us for 2026.”