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Today, at his first press conference, he told the media that the Federation is broke and cannot meet its payroll commitments:..

Ruperto Vicente, President FFB
"I want to say to us today that the dark days are over for football. So today I am happy to say to you that this is a new day in football."

And with that dramatic pronouncement FFB President Ruperto Vicente told an audience of football lifers about the FFB's grim current state of affairs and his optimism for the future.

Ruperto Vicente, President FFB
"For the first time in 14 years we are changing the face of football. It will no longer be controlled and managed by 2 persons."

Each member of his executive will be responsible for a portfolio - and one of the key emphases going forward is female football

Ruperto Vicente, President FFB
"We are going to develop female football. FIFA requires that every federation must have tournaments for females and we must develop our female players."

There are also plans to develop coaching, refereeing and youth football:

Ruperto Vicente, President FFB
"Many of our young people that are playing football today are playing football simply because they like the sports of football. It's not because they are trained to play football."

And while there are plans aplenty, all these have to be tempered by the grim reality that the FFB - the governing body for football in Belize - is flat broke:

Ruperto Vicente, President FFB
"I want you all to know that at this moment the federation is broke. There is no money, and I must clear that up with you. The federation does not have any monies."

"Last year the federation received from FIFA to finance its programs $1.8 million dollars. That's the amount of money we received last year. All that money is gone. We no longer have any monies."

So broke the FFB cannot meet payroll:

Ruperto Vicente, President FFB
"When we say we are broke, there are no monies. We have checked with the account at Scotia Bank and there is only $1,000 in that account. Presently for the staff, we have a payroll of $13,000 per month that we must meet. There are no monies for that. The staff at the federation is heavily paid."

"We do not have monies presently to meet that salary budget. Yes FIFA will be sending some money this week. We are hoping that when we get those monies we will be able to pay our staff."

"We are in a difficult situation because the past administration signed a contract with those individuals. Our legal team is now reviewing those contracts. It's going to be difficult for us at this point until we are advised by our legal team to remove those from the federation as employees."

So this entity which gets a subvention from FIFA of half a million Belize dollars a year has one thousand Belize dollars in the bank - and also they don't have any financial records to show how the money was spent:

Ruperto Vicente, President FFB
"We don't have anything at the Football Federation of Belize. We do not have anything in terms of financing or financials, so we have to start from scratch. We don't have anything."

But despite that, they are not going after past 14 year president Bertie Chimilio.

Ruperto Vicente, President FFB
"We are not going to spend time investigating Dr. Chimilio. That is not our mandate."

Instead, the FFB is moving on - but will need the Football family to bear patience:

Ruperto Vicente, President FFB
"We have a tremendous task, and we ask all our supporters, all our people, and all our friends to be patient. This is not going to happen overnight. We are starting all over."

A few notes. Vicente will set up a Commission of Inquiry to, quote, "look at irregularities that may exist."

Second, the FFB is waiting on an audit which past-president Chimilio was supposed to hand in last Friday. FIFA is also waiting on that audit.

Third, a team from UNCAF is supposed to arrive in April to help the FFB executive map out a way forward.