Belize appoints Blaine as director of football

Former Reggae Girls head coach Vin Blaine has been appointed director of football for the Football Federation of Belize.

Blaine, who previously held the same post with the Jamaica Football Federation, signed a two-year contract last week with an option to renew. The former Jamaica Premier League title winner with Harbour View says his mission is to make fundamental changes in how the game is organised and administered in Belize, while building a competitive international programme.

“My responsibility is the same as any director of football. I am in charge of all programmes and competitions. I will work with coach educators to ensure we are educating the local coaches at the different levels. My role is to revive the programmes, set up the technical department properly, and improve the game year by year,” Blaine explained.

This is not his first stint leading a national association, having served as technical director of Grenada football and director of football for the US Virgin Islands. One of his main objectives is to unify the country’s football vision.

“One vision, one mission – that is what we want. I want to see their football able to challenge for titles, and I would like to see the development and improvement of the game here, as well as improvements in young referees and refereeing. I would like to leave a legacy where a local director of football can take over when I leave,” he said.

Blaine has already turned his attention to three upcoming tournaments. Belize’s senior team will contest Nations League football in September and October. In October, the U15 boys will travel to Azerbaijan for a World Cup festival, while the U16s compete in the Central American Football Union tournament in El Salvador.

“The reason why I came this early is because they have several things happening in October, all around the same time. I’ve had several meetings with the coaches. I have another meeting on Monday with the U15, U16 and U17 coaches. I have to hit the ground running,” Blaine noted.

He added that while he will occasionally recommend players, the scouting programme he has implemented will take the lead. Blaine believes Belize has significant talent, particularly among Latin American and Spanish expatriates who bring a different style of play.

“We have not named a squad yet for Nations League training. We are going to make that assessment on the full weekend of Belize Premier League games, to see if we can find any talent that was never invited in the first place. I want to make Belize more competitive internationally. I have started my assessment already and when the time comes, everyone will know exactly what the expectations are,” he stated.