A surprising return
FIFA president Gianni Infantino made an unexpected appearance at an Under‑14 soccer tournament in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, a move that defied a direct request from his own vice‑president, Victor Montagliani, to stay away.
The visit comes at a time when Infantino’s flagship “FIFA Forward Enterprise” proposal, which sought to sell the organization’s commercial rights to private investors, has been withdrawn after a wave of global backlash. His chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, had publicly criticized the plan and was dismissed shortly thereafter.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and AFC head Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa have accused Infantino of misleading stakeholders by secretly arranging to offload FIFA’s revenue‑generating activities, a claim the president has not directly addressed.
South American confederation CONMEBOL has voiced support for Infantino’s ambition to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams and to seek a fourth term that would keep him in office until 2031, with the FIFA congress in Rabat, Morocco, slated for March 2027.
Financially, regional bodies such as the Caribbean Football Union receive up to $5 million per World Cup cycle, and Infantino’s evasive reply to a reporter’s question — joking about baldness instead of confronting the criticism — has only deepened the perception of avoidance.
The episode underscores a growing rift within world football’s governing body, as confederations voice concerns over governance, transparency, and the future direction of the sport under Infantino’s leadership.