THE ANOINTED ONE!

FIFA President Sepp Blatter seems to have annointed his vice president Jeffrey Webb by making it clear he views him as a potential successor at the head of football's world governing body.

That would cap a remarkable rise for Webb, a 49-year-old lawyer from Grand Cayman, the bejewelled isle in the Caribbean Sea that this week played host to the great and the good of the game as they made plans for its future.

Webb, who took charge of Concacaf in 2012, launched an integrity report and audit into the activities of his predecessor Jack Warner. It concluded there had been serious managerial failings and that millions of dollars of funding had been misused. He then received a significant profile boost when he was appointed the head of FIFA's anti-discrimination task-force in March, granting him an opportunity to hone presidential skills by formulating an agreement over a response to racism - before presenting amendments to the world governing body's statutes at its annual congress in Mauritius. With his credentials established, Webb's presidential candidacy looks as if it is being pushed into the next phase.

At a gala dinner attended by regional CONCACAF political figures Blatter, addressing the audience of dignitaries in the Caribbean at the start of the week, remarked that FIFAcould soon have a new president and that it could be Webb.

Webb is certainly a man of ambition, responding that he would "definitely" like to become Fifa president one day, while making it clear that he would not be going up against Blatter when elections are next held in 2015.
"I'm a servant of the game," said Webb. "When I set out to volunteer and be involved in this game, it was about passion, it was about my football club and helping them. Then it became about getting involved in my national association. I think I've had 28 or 29 different jobs since I've been involved in football. It's about giving back, it's about serving the game. Who knows what lies in the future? I had no idea two or three years ago that I'd become vice-president of Fifa or president of Concacaf, but that's life, that's the journey."

After 38 years with Fifa, 15 as president, Blatter has seen off multiple contenders and challengers.  And when asked about who will succeed him he remarked, "I could say that this is not my business, but it's a little bit my business. And then I will have a legacy - or a president who at least will go in the same direction that I have been."