BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — CONCACAF President Jeff Webb says the confederation’s focus will remain on football development, as it seeks to ensure opportunities at the highest level for its players.

He told CMC Sports that while other facets of football administration were critical to the running of the sport, it was imperative that the development of the player and community remained the central focal point.

“We are a confederation whose top priority in football is football. We’re a football confederation and our focus should be football, our focus should not be economics or should [not be any other thing], it should be about football,” Webb said.

“And for us, when we talk about football, we must talk about development – how we’re going to develop the players, how we’re going to give the youth of the Caribbean and the youth of Central America the hope and aspirations to achieve.”

The Caymanian banker assumed the presidency of CONCACAF two years ago, following the cash-for-votes scandal which rocked Caribbean football and led to the resignation of long-standing football strongman Jack Warner.

He has since embarked on a clean up of the confederation, in an attempt to restore credibility and transparency, and said his every decision has hinged on how best football in the region can be carried to the next stage of development.

“The game means so much to our people, it means so much to them from a legacy standpoint, from a future standpoint, it gives so much hope,” Webb explained.

“For us, it is something that I live with everyday because we are a confederation of football and it is for this football that we live everyday. We don’t worry about just the Gold Cup or other tournaments, but we worry about football everyday – club football, grassroots football. That’s our focus and that’s our priority.”

As part of his vision of reviving the confederation, Webb recently announced a partnership with the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) which will see six national teams from CONCACAF participating in the 2016 Centennial edition of Copa America.

More importantly, the winner of the Caribbean Cup scheduled for Jamaica in November, will gain automatic qualification for the highly regarded championship.

Webb said such partnerships were a major boost for the confederation.

“For us of course it’s raising the bar, it’s raising the standard. It’s going to put the best footballers from CONCACAF against the best footballers from South America and it is going to give us an opportunity to have a celebration of football for what football is. It’s emotion, it’s passion and of course it’s a challenge,” said Webb, also a FIFA vice-president.

“For us, it gives us a great opportunity. It is of course a celebration of 100 years and the Copa America has such a history, a tradition and a legacy and we’re excited to share this platform with CONMEBOL.

“We have been working on this from day one [of my presidency]. I made, I think, almost eight trips to South America in the last two years between various meetings. It’s very complicated of course when you involve economic partners so we’re looking forward to the opportunity.”

CONCACAF is the governing body for football in North, Central America and the Caribbean.