GENEVA (AP) 鈥� Gianni Infantino defied a request by one of his FIFA vice presidents to stay away from an Under-14 soccer event in the Caribbean and instead made a rare public appearance during the over his to private investors.
On Saturday, account showing the FIFA president meeting political and soccer officials from the Dominican Republic on the sidelines of a Caribbean Football Union (CFU) youth tournament in the Punta Cana resort.
On Friday, Infantino had been asked not to go by Victor Montagliani, the Canadian president of Miami-based continental soccer body CONCACAF, to avoid being a distraction from the soccer games.
鈥淚 believe that considering the governance crisis surrounding FIFA as a result of your controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, the media will focus on this situation,鈥� Montagliani wrote in an emailed letter seen by The Associated Press, 鈥渨hich will unfortunately significantly take away from the technical nature of the CFU youth competition.鈥�
鈥淎s 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,鈥� Montagliani wrote.
FIFA declined to comment on the Montagliani request, though noted it directly funds regional bodies like the CFU with up to $5 million from each four-year World Cup cycle.
Montagliani has aligned with fellow FIFA vice presidents Aleksander Ceferin from European body UEFA and Asian Football Confederation president Sheik Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa in seeking to end Infantino鈥檚 increasingly executive presidency now in its 11th year.
of 鈥渄eception鈥� in secretly planning over the past year to spin off FIFA鈥檚 multi-billion dollar commercial activities to a subsidiary 20% owned by investors led by Joshua Kushner.
Infantino withdrew the project on Aug. 1 amid a global backlash by soccer leaders and fans, and hours after his own chief operating officer of the proposal and his leadership style in a statement to the AP. The Zurich-based COO, Kevin Lamour, was .
Caribbean member federations are seen as potential supporters for Infantino to peel away from their CONCACAF leadership. South American body CONMEBOL has backed Infantino as its best path to hosting more games at the it wants expanded from 48 teams to 64.
Avoiding questions from a bald reporter
The FIFA leader has not taken questions publicly since the $20 billion FFE project was revealed July 28 by British daily The Times, and on Friday in Punta Cana he Sky 草莓传媒.
Asked by Sky reporter James Matthews if he had betrayed the sport and should resign, Infantino said 鈥淭hank you so much鈥� and made quips about both men being bald.
Infantino is aiming to be re-elected for a fourth and final term in office through 2031 at the FIFA election congress next March in Rabat, Morocco. FIFA has set Nov. 18 as a deadline for would-be candidates to enter the race.
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