JFF president confident win over Mexico will put Jamaica on the football map

Michael Ricketts, president of the Jamaica Football FederationPhoto: Garfield Robinson Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) President Michael Ricketts believes a win for Jamaica against Mexico could play a significant role in boosting the country’s football and commercial profile. The Reggae Boyz host Mexico in their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final first leg today at the National Stadium, starting at 8 pm. The national senior men’s team are coming off a successful group stage campaign where they finished second in Group B with their only loss from four games coming against Honduras. However, they are now one of the region’s and world’s best in Mexico who have made the final of every Nations League since the competition’s inception in 2019. After Jamaica’s historic third-place finish in 2023/2024 season, they crashed out in the quarter-final stage in the 2024/2025, losing to the USA 5-2 on aggregate. That disappointment was compounded by a group-stage exit at the Concacaf Gold Cup last summer and their failure to automatically qualify for the FIFA World Cup last November. Ricketts, though, is hoping that the players will show a better fight this time around. “It’s going to be tough but we have to ensure that our players are mentally prepared and that’s key and probably that’s what we’ve been lacking over the last few years,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “We have not been able to execute very well on the field of play but we’re looking forward to moulding a set of young players that will represent us well.” Mexico are coming off an impressive FIFA World Cup campaign, where they served as hosts, after advancing to the round of 16 and narrowly losing to eventual third-place finishers England. The Mexicans, ranked number 10 in the world, have an incredible record against Jamaica with 23 wins from 32 games. Ricketts believes victory could put the world on notice that Jamaica intend to end their World Cup drought ahead of the 2030 edition. “We are bracing ourselves for that and a good result against Mexico would certainly send a message around the world that we are on a path of recovery and we are on a path of recruiting young players that are committed to the process of getting us to the World Cup by the next edition in 2030,” the JFF boss said. “To beat Mexico certainly would send a strong signal, would send a strong message and we not just want to beat Mexico but we want to do very well, we want, of course, to be into the Gold Cup when that time comes around.” The JFF missed out on nearly $2 billion after missing last summer’s World Cup. Ricketts isn’t expecting any major financial gain from the Nations League but believes it can be the start of their recovery path. “We are hopeful that we will be able to get things right at the latter part of this year so that next year financially and from a commercial perspective, we would be in a better position than we have been in the last few months,” he said. “We would have invested heavily in probably six World Cup qualifying tournaments and that would have cost us hundreds of millions of dollars. We must now try to recoup some of those lost funds.” “Next year I’m pretty certain that things will be a lot better from a commercial standpoint. We, of course, maintain our main sponsor adidas and there are some local sponsors who have always been there for us and with us. As we get back into the marketplace for a new year, we are very optimistic and hopeful that we on the field of play will do enough so that we can attract some of these new business partners that will help us to grow the sport.” — Daniel Blake