Traffic executive to take over CONCACAF admin role vacated by Blazer
NEW YORK: Colombian-born Enrique Sanz is to leave marketing agency Traffic Sports USA to take over as general secretary of CONCACAF – the role vacated just before Christmas by whistle-blower Chuck Blazer.
CONCACAF – the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football – said in a statement that Sanz will start work on July 25. New CONCACAF president, Jeffrey Webb, has indicated that his proposal for the appointment was approved unanimously by his executive committee.
Webb, trying to pull the scandal-shattered confederation back together in his own role as successor to controversial Jack Warner, said: “Sanz will have a key role in the administration of CONCACAF. I am certain that we have found a professional with competence and integrity to implement our road map to reform.”
Sanz, 38, is vice-president of Traffic Sports USA, a leading soccer marketing company in Latin America, where he has headed the CONCACAF region since 2005.
Oddly, CONCACAF’s statement described him as “part of the team that laid the foundation for the NASL (North American Soccer League) in the United States.”
That is impossible to reconcile with Sanz’s stated age – since the heyday of the NASL was more than 35 years ago and he was born in 1974.
Sanz said: “I am honoured to have been appointed as general secretary. Although not without challenge, I foresee a great new era for the confederation.”
Before joining Traffic Sports USA, Sanz was founder and ceo of Media Sports Marketing, a football marketing agency. Additionally, Sanz was Vice President of Interforever Sports, a soccer marketing company in the CONCACAF region.
Blazer, who had been general secretary fro 21 years, remains a CONCACAF delegate on the FIFA executive committee but his influence has been reduced by his departure from the world federation’s powerful TV and Marketing committee.
Ted Howard, who has been acting general secretary, will return to his previous position as deputy general secretary.
Howard was executive director of the old North American Soccer League from 1971 until it folded in 1984, director of marketing for Ohlmeyer Communications for three years and director and group manager of NBA Marketing from 1988 until he joined CONCACAF 10 years later.
Webb said: “I am thankful for Ted’s efforts over the last eight months. His experience will be critical as move forward with the work of reforming CONCACAF.”
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