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August 17 – In perhaps the most remarkable and sycophantic endorsement of FIFA president Gianni Infantino so far, the Antigua and Barbuda FA (ABFA) has issued an effusive and flowery statement that is big on adjectives and short on substance. The ABFA has a very newly minted president in Ickford ‘Nyah’ Roberts (pictured centre) who only elected in May 2026 defeating Fernando Abraham in the final round of voting. He takes over from Everton ‘Batow’ Gonsalves who served four consecutive terms after first being elected in 2008. The ABFA’s support statement reads more like an AI-authored religion-inspired eulogy than a ringing endorsement of a living and breathing president in the practical and real world of football. It praises Infantino for every aspect of his leadership that ABFA’s colleagues in the Caribbean (bar two nations), and the rest of Concacaf have criticised him for. That includes a “visionary stewardship (that) has indelibly reshaped the global football landscape”, and in so doing seems to endorse the politicisation of the global game, a World Cup that was influenced on the field of play by a US president, and a disregard of the rules of the game from mandatory hydration breaks to half hour half times. That is before the issue of Infantino selling off the commercial revenues from under the feet of federations like the ABFA. The statement talks of ‘transformative policies’ like the ‘groundbreaking investments in grassroots’. But this is money that was being distributed well before Infantino was in office and is not money that needs to begged for but belongs to federations – including Roberts’ ABFA – by right. It is akin to praising the sun gods for rising every day – isn’t that what they do? While the statement is unsigned, it is Roberts first public outing in international football politics and it is a doozy. It looks like the debut of the village idiot desperately trying to please his master, and thanking him for the crumbs thrown his way. Roberts was elected on a platform of bringing change to ABFA football. It looks like that change will in fact be alienation in the court of his Caribbean peers who are pushing for change, increased opportunities and more money for their football regionally and nationally. Infantino’s plan doesn’t deliver that on a sustainable basis – for him the Caribbean nations are an easy vote to be bought with pocket change. His opponents in the European, Asian and Americas confederations say that the culture of fearmongering and threats over release of grant money has to end immediately. They also say that FIFA can afford to increase grants without “having to sell off the family silver’. Roberts can perhaps be forgiven for being new to this world and not reading the tea leaves. But will his constituents forgive him for alienating them from it on an inclusive basis? The ABFA has a long and proud history of being a leader in the Caribbean and the Caribbean Football Union. The statement in its dripping obsequiousness is printed below. Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]