Fifa president Gianni Infantino is reportedly planning to attend a youth football tournament in the Dominican Republic this weekend, in what appears to be a calculated attempt to weaken the coalition of confederations pushing for his removal from power.
According to the Guardian, Infantino intends to travel to the U14 Boys Challenge, an event organised by the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), whose 21 member associations all hold voting rights within Fifa. The move comes despite reported warnings from senior officials at Concacaf, the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, urging him to avoid the event altogether. Concacaf has been working alongside Uefa to build support for ousting Infantino from Fifa's top job.
The trip sets up a potential face-to-face encounter with Victor Montagliani, the Concacaf president who is seen as the most viable candidate to challenge Infantino for the presidency. Notably, the Dominican Republic's own football association had extended the invitation to Infantino before the controversy erupted over a proposed sell-off of World Cup commercial rights last month. Since then, however, the Dominican federation has aligned itself with a joint statement from Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation demanding an independent review of the so-called Fifa Forward Enterprise plan, along with an emergency meeting of the Fifa council.
Having spent much of the past month sheltering among his most loyal allies in Morocco and Qatar, Infantino appears to be shifting strategy by targeting smaller footballing nations ahead of the presidential election scheduled for next March. His visit to the CFU gathering is viewed as an opportunity to peel away support from within the Concacaf bloc. Mexico, the confederation's most prominent member, has already broken ranks to back Infantino, joined by two smaller CFU nations, Grenada and St Kitts and Nevis.
It is worth noting that neither the Boys Challenge nor the accompanying CFU meetings are official Fifa events, which has drawn scrutiny over the president's decision to attend. Fifa itself declined to comment when questioned about Infantino's travel plans.
Meanwhile, the pressure campaign against him continues to build. Uefa, Concacaf and the AFC are reportedly weighing a formal vote of no confidence, a move that would force the issue to a head well before the scheduled election. Under Fifa's own statutes, an extraordinary congress can be triggered at any point if 43 of the organisation's 211 member associations submit a written request outlining agenda items, including a no-confidence motion. Such a congress would then need to be held within three months, though Fifa's rules do not contain explicit procedures for handling a no-confidence vote against a sitting president.
Adding to Infantino's troubles, a coalition of fan groups from across the footballing world launched a petition on Thursday calling for his resignation. The campaign has already garnered backing from supporter organisations across all six Fifa confederations.
"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," the fan groups said in a joint statement. They further accused Infantino of negotiating the plan "in secret" and hiding it "from Fifa's own members and from the millions of people whose passion makes football what it is."
The statement concluded with a direct call for him to step down: "A president who repeatedly betrays football and makes a mockery of our game has lost the right to lead it. For the credibility of Fifa – and for the future of the game – he must resign."
With battle lines being drawn across multiple continents, Infantino's trip to the Caribbean may prove pivotal in determining whether he can retain enough support to survive mounting calls for his departure.
Based on reporting from Guardian Football.