Gianni Infantino Invited—But Asked to Stay Away from Youth Tournament in Dominican Republic
BBC Homepage
Skip to content
Accessibility Help
Your account
Home
News
Sport
Earth
Reel
Worklife
Travel
Culture
Future
Music
TV
Weather
Sounds
More menu
More menu
Search BBC
Home
News
Sport
Earth
Reel
Worklife
Travel
Culture
Future
Music
TV
Weather
Sounds
Close menu
BBC Sport
Menu
Home
Football
Cricket
Formula 1
Rugby U
Tennis
Golf
Cycling
Athletics
More
A-Z Sports
American Football
Athletics
Basketball
Boxing
Cricket
Cycling
Darts
Disability Sport
Football
Formula 1
Gaelic Games
Golf
Gymnastics
Horse Racing
Mixed Martial Arts
Motorsport
Netball
Rugby League
Rugby Union
Snooker
Swimming
Tennis
Full Sports A-Z
More from Sport
England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
Quizzes
News Feeds
Help & FAQs
Football
Scores & Fixtures
Tables
Follow Your Team
Premier League
Gossip
Transfers
Women
European
Leagues & Cups
Quizzes
Infantino asked to stay away from youth tournament
Image source: Getty Images
Image caption: Gianni Infantino has been Fifa president since 2016
By
Sam Drury
, BBC Sport journalist
and
Laura Scott
, Sports News Correspondent
Published 4 minutes ago
Fifa president Gianni Infantino has been asked to stay away from a youth football tournament in the Dominican Republic this weekend by Concacaf president Victor Montagliani.
In a letter seen by the BBC, Montagliani referred to the "governance crisis surrounding Fifa", before asking Infantino to reconsider attending the the CFU Under-14 Series event.
The Canadian, who is also a Fifa vice-president, added his presence would "unfortunately undermine the technical nature" of the competition.
Infantino was invited as a guest of the Dominican Republic, although the invitation is 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."
Infantino was well received on his arrival to the Caribbean country, while a number of Concacaf nations have backed him to continue for a fourth term as Fifa president.
"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," said Dominican Republic’s minister of sports and recreation Kelvin Cruz in a statement.
The tournament 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.
However, Infantino retains the support of South American governing body Conmebol and Caf, the African governing body.
