Victor Montagliani asks Gianni Infantino to stay away from CFU Under-14 Series in Dominican Republic

Concacaf president Victor Montagliani has asked Fifa president Gianni Infantino to stay away from the CFU Under-14 Series youth tournament in the Dominican Republic this weekend. Infantino has been Fifa president since 2016.

In a letter seen by the BBC, Montagliani referred to the "governance crisis surrounding Fifa" and asked Infantino to reconsider attending the CFU Under-14 Series event. Montagliani, who is Canadian and also a Fifa vice-president, warned that the president's presence would "unfortunately undermine the technical nature" of the competition. Infantino was invited as a guest of the Dominican Republic, an invitation believed to have been issued prior to his controversial Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal, which has left his position under threat.

"The media will focus on this situation, which will unfortunately significantly take away from the technical nature of the CFU youth competition," wrote Montagliani. "As such, I respectfully ask you in the name of football to reconsider your attendance as it will unfortunately undermine the technical nature of this important youth development activity." The request was made specifically in relation to the CFU Under-14 Series event taking place this weekend.

Infantino was well received on his arrival to the Caribbean country and a number of Concacaf nations have backed him to continue for a fourth term as Fifa president. Dominican Republic's minister of sports and recreation Kelvin Cruz said in a statement: "We deeply appreciate your visit to the Dominican Republic, without doubt that your presence in our country puts us on the international football radar and opens us great prospects for growth and development of Dominican football." The CFU Under-14 Series is one of a number of development projects funded by world football's governing body through their Fifa Forward programme.

Infantino has faced heavy criticism over his attempt to sell off stakes in the World Cup and other competitions to private investors through his now-scrapped FFE proposal. A number of football associations have withdrawn their support for the Swiss-Italian administrator, who was accused of breaking trust "through deception" in an open letter issued by Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation. Fifa's decision to dismiss senior executive Kevin Lamour following his criticism of Infantino has also been criticised, while Infantino retains the support of Conmebol and Caf.

The CFU Under-14 Series takes place this weekend in the Dominican Republic, and Montagliani has asked Infantino to reconsider attending to avoid diverting attention from the competition's technical and development goals.