Gianni Infantino to attend CFU U14 tournament in Dominican Republic amid pressure

FIFA president Gianni Infantino plans to attend the U14 Boys Challenge competition organised by the Caribbean Football Union in the Dominican Republic this weekend, and would face Concacaf president Victor Montagliani if he follows through with the trip. He is seeking to use the CFU meetings to lobby for votes from smaller nations in the region ahead of next March’s presidential election.

Infantino intends to split the European and North American coalition that is seeking to oust him by appearing at the junior tournament, despite being urged to stay away by senior figures within Concacaf. Concacaf is working with Uefa to remove him, and the Dominican Republic had invited Infantino to attend before the World Cup sell-off plan emerged last month. Since that plan surfaced, the Dominican Republic backed a joint Uefa, Concacaf and Asian Football Confederation statement calling for an independent review of the Fifa Forward Enterprise proposal and an emergency meeting of the Fifa council.

As scrutiny has intensified over the last month, Infantino has spent time in Morocco and Qatar and is understood to view the CFU meetings as a chance to weaken the Concacaf bloc by courting the region’s smaller associations. The CFU comprises 21 associations that are voting members of Fifa, giving the meetings a potential role in the build-up to the presidential contest.

Concacaf’s most successful nation, Mexico, is publicly backing Infantino despite its confederation’s stance, and two CFU members, Grenada and St Kitts and Nevis, have also declared support for him. Infantino is understood to have received a private endorsement from Panama, although that endorsement has not been made public.

The Boys Challenge and the CFU meetings are not Fifa events, a fact that has raised eyebrows among officials and observers; Fifa declined to comment when asked about the president’s movements. Infantino’s presence at a non-Fifa tournament but involving many Fifa members has therefore drawn particular attention within the governance dispute.

Uefa, Concacaf and the AFC are continuing to explore calling for a vote of no confidence in Infantino. Under Fifa’s statutes, the council can convene an extraordinary congress at any time if 43 of Fifa’s 211 member associations submit a written request specifying the items they want on the agenda, which can include no-confidence votes, and an extraordinary congress must then be convened within three months; the statutes contain no specific provision regarding a vote of no confidence in its president.

Infantino also faced renewed pressure on Thursday when worldwide fans’ groups launched a petition calling for his resignation, with the campaign reported to have support from all six Fifa confederations spanning continental and national fan groups. “The shameful attempt by one individual – the Fifa president himself – to sell off the World Cup to private investors exposed a betrayal football will never forget,” a statement on behalf of the fan organisations said. “For the credibility of Fifa – and for the future of the game – he must resign.”

Uefa, Concacaf and the AFC’s exploration of a no-confidence route could force a formal resolution before next March’s presidential election if they and other member associations pursue the extraordinary congress mechanism, a procedural option that would require 43 written member requests to the Fifa council.