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August 19 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino, generally missing in action since the explosion of fury caused by the unveiling of his secret plan to sell-off FIFA’s commercial rights to a private equity financed shell company, is set to make an appearance in the Caribbean this weekend – at a regional U14 Boys tournament. The embattled Infantino is set to turn the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) U14 Boys Challenge tournament into a political circus – the football equivalent of using youth players as a human shield while he plots and manipulates local FAs behind the scenes into supporting him. Infantino has visited the Dominican Republic once before on football business, in 2017, but he didn’t make it to their hosting of the Women’s U17 World Cup in October-November 2024 – a major event for the country’s FA and sports ministry. Instead Infantino chose to hang out and hobnob in Qatar at the finals of the FIP World Padel Championship, rather than attend the finals of his own U17 Women’s World Cup. As one Caribbean insider told Insideworldfootball: “It really shows that he doesn’t care that deeply about football when it comes down to it. He would rather hang out with his Qatari benefactors than trek to a women’s World Cup in the Caribbean. “That he now suddenly decides to turn up and brings his global politics and infamy to a CFU Boys U14 tournament is a big lack of judgement.” Another Caribbean FA president speaking to Insideworldfootball on the condition of anonymity said that as a group they are solidly behind Concacaf’s challenge to Infantino and that they are tired of being treated like second class football citizens by Infantino and his “henchmen” who enforce his political demands. “His only intention in coming to an U14 CFU tournament is (to) play politics. He should call an emergency meeting of the FIFA Council and face his membership. He should have done it weeks ago if he cared anything for football and international co-operation. He only cares about what football can do for him. This tournament should not be about him.” Dominican Republic under pressure to withdraw Infantino invite The CFU event isn’t a FIFA-supported event though the Dominican Republic FA invited Infantino at the end of last month out of courtesy. They are now under increasing pressure to withdraw their invitation. At press time the Dominican Republic FA had not responded to questions from Insideworldfootball, but one insider told us that they feel they have been put in a very difficult political position by Infantino. The Dominican Republic have backed the joint Concacaf, AFC, UEFA call for Infantino to call an emergency meeting and face the FIFA Council. Five out of eight FIFA vice presidents have now come out against Infantino continuing his presidency. The Dominican Republic FA is nervous of incurring the anger and financial consequences that Infantino’s FIFA uses to threaten the smaller member associations when they don’t follow his line. Their hope privately is that he won’t turn up. A senior delegation from Concacaf has already committed to attend the finals as well as a number of Caribbean FA presidents. That delegation includes Concacaf president Victor Montagliani who until the FFE plan was announced, had generally been a supporter of Infantino. Infantino and his in-house member association team have repaid this by working hard to undermine Montagliani making fearmongering threats to Caribbean FAs, and promises to key member FAs and their presidents to attempt to split the Concacaf unity. Mexico have reportedly been promised the hosting of the 2029 Club World Cup. Between a rock and a hard place The Dominican Republic will become the home of Concacaf’s new Centre of Excellence facility that is scheduled to break ground in October/November of this year. The federation is afraid that Infantino by choosing their country as a battleground to find support for his FIFA presidency, will cause them to lose the goodwill of Concacaf and their Caribbean neighbours. A Concacaf insider told Insideworldfootball that a lot of work and process had gone into the choice of the Dominican Republic site and that “we are not going to hurt our own people”. Even so, the seeds of a rift will have been sown. Sale of the century backfires Infantino’s sell off plan has plunged FIFA into its deepest institutional crisis since the FIFAgate scandal of 2015, and the US Department of Justice indictments of more than 40 of its officials. Infantino was last seen giving out the trophy at WAFCON in Morocco last weekend, but has generally been missing in action since July 31. Having convened a meeting of his most loyal senior staff (he has sacked others) and having dispatched his most zealot missionaries – led by Gelson Fernandes, Elkhan Mammadov and Veron Mosengo-Omba – to lobby hard for his presidency, he has increasingly cut an isolated and deeply unloved figure in the football federation world. Concacaf, the AFC and UEFA have jointly called on Infantino to explain his actions but he has so far refused to speak to membership or call an emergency FIFA Council meeting. That has led to multiple federations publicly pulling their previous support for his presidency to continue for a further term. The call for Infantino’s immediate resignation has been universal from the game’s stakeholders, from fan groups and players’ unions, to clubs, leagues and league bodies. Governments have also weighed in in opposition, though Donald Trump did say he supports Infantino – an endorsement that is probably more unhelpful that helpful considering that it was his intervention at the World Cup and the private equity ties to his family that sparked Infantino’s crisis. With FIFA’s three leading confederations having withdrawn from any governance decisions and refusing to attend standing committee meetings until Infantino makes himself accountable to his membership, FIFA has been effectively paralysed. UEFA has threatened to boycott all FIFA events and early discussions have taken place between the confederations around organising their own international competitions separate to FIFA. If Infantino does travel to the Dominican Republic, he will do so in a private jet provided by Qatar. On arrival he will likely find that a Qatari welcome for his seemingly preferred sport of padel is considerably warmer than an U14 boys football tournament in the Caribbean where he is both unknown by the players and unwanted by the officials. Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]