Gianni Infantino Urged to Skip Dominican Republic Youth Tournament

Gianni Infantino has been urged to stay away from a youth tournament in the Dominican Republic this weekend, as the political storm around his leadership of Fifa spills onto the touchline.

Concacaf president Victor Montagliani has written to the Fifa chief, asking him not to attend the CFU Under-14 Series, warning that his presence would drag a grassroots event into the heart of a global governance crisis.

‘In the name of football’

In a letter seen by the BBC, Montagliani directly referenced the “governance crisis surrounding Fifa” and said Infantino’s visit would “unfortunately undermine the technical nature” of the competition.

“The media will focus on this situation, which will unfortunately significantly take away from the technical nature of the CFU youth competition,” he wrote.

“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.”

Montagliani, a Canadian who also serves as a Fifa vice-president, is effectively telling his own president that the politics around him are now too toxic for a youth tournament meant to be about coaching, talent and development.

Warm welcome, cold politics

Infantino had been invited to the Dominican Republic as a guest of the host nation, with the invitation understood to have been extended before his controversial Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal exploded into view and put his position under serious pressure.

On the ground, though, he has not been treated as a pariah. Infantino was warmly received on arrival in the Caribbean, and several Concacaf nations continue to support his bid for a fourth term as Fifa president.

Dominican Republic’s minister of sports and recreation, Kelvin Cruz, publicly praised the visit.

“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,” Cruz said in a statement.

The tournament itself is one of a series of development projects financed by world football’s governing body through its Fifa Forward programme, the same broader framework under which the now-abandoned FFE idea was conceived.

FFE backlash and fractured alliances

Infantino’s attempt to sell off stakes in the World Cup and other competitions to private investors through the FFE proposal has triggered fierce backlash. The plan has been scrapped, but the damage has not disappeared with it.

A number of national associations have withdrawn their backing for the Swiss-Italian administrator. In a stinging open letter, Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation accused him of breaking trust “through deception”, a charge that cut straight to the heart of his authority.

Tensions deepened when Fifa dismissed senior executive Kevin Lamour after he criticised Infantino. That decision has drawn its own wave of condemnation and fed the narrative of a leadership under siege.

Yet Infantino is not isolated everywhere. He still holds the support of Conmebol, South America’s governing body, and Caf, which oversees African football. Those blocs remain powerful allies in any fight for survival at the top of Fifa.

For now, the battle over his future has reached an unlikely stage: an under-14 tournament in the Caribbean, where the question is no longer just who wins on the pitch, but whether the sport’s most powerful figure should even be in the stands.