Concacaf chief asks Infantino to skip youth tournament
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- Victor Montagliani asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to stay away from the CFU Under-14 Series in the Dominican Republic this weekend, citing 'the governance crisis surrounding Fifa' in a letter seen by the BBC.
- Montagliani wrote that Infantino's attendance would 'unfortunately undermine the technical nature' of the youth competition because media coverage would 'significantly take away' from it.
- Dominican Republic's minister of sports and recreation Kelvin Cruz publicly welcomed Infantino's visit, saying it 'puts us on the international football radar' and offers 'great prospects for growth and development.'
- The invitation to Infantino was issued before his controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal to sell stakes in the World Cup and other competitions to private investors, which has since been scrapped.
- UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation issued an open letter accusing Infantino of breaking trust 'through deception' over the FFE proposal.
- FIFA dismissed senior executive Kevin Lamour after he criticized Infantino — a decision the article notes 'has also been criticised.'
- Conmebol (South America) and CAF (Africa) continue to support Infantino for a fourth term as FIFA president, alongside several Concacaf members.
Why it matters: Montagliani is both Concacaf president and a FIFA vice-president, making his public distancing from him an internal fracture rather than purely external opposition. A member of FIFA's own vice-presidential circle now views the controversy as unfit to share a stage at a youth event — even as Dominican officials and Conmebol/CAF continue backing Infantino, exposing the split running through his confederation support base.
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