Gianni Infantino has separated Fifa’s management of the Caribbean countries from the rest of Concacaf in a move widely regarded by his opponents as an attempt to split the alliance to remove him from office.
Concacaf covers North and Central America as well as the Caribbean and was previously managed as one bloc. But the Guardian has learned that the former Switzerland midfielder Gelson Fernandes, an Infantino loyalist, has been appointed as the director of member associations for the Caribbean, in addition to his position looking after Fifa’s African members.
Related: More than 100,000 people add names to complaint against Gianni Infantino
Fernandes, who played for Manchester City, Leicester and eight other clubs, joined Fifa in 2022 as director of member associations for Africa and was promoted two years later to become deputy chief members associations officer globally.
The 40-year-old works closely with Fifa’s chief members associations officer, Elkhan Mammadov, a close ally of Infantino described by many national associations as the president’s key enforcer.
Fernandes has replaced Jair Bertoni as Fifa’s liaison with the 21 Caribbean-based members, with the national associations and Concacaf informed of the change last week without consultation.
In a statement Fifa confirmed the appointment, which it said was designed to support Infantino’s vision of making the sport truly global.
“Fifa can confirm that Gelson Fernandes has taken on responsibility for the Caribbean region, in addition to his current role as regional director Africa,” it said. “With his extensive experience at Fifa and strong knowledge of football development programmes, Gelson will lead the regional team and will work closely with the member associations across the Caribbean to further support the development of football in their respective countries, following the Fifa president’s vision: making football truly global.”
Concacaf is attempting with Uefa and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to oust Infantino. Sources at several member associations in Europe and North America regard the change as an attempt to split the Concacaf vote before March’s presidential election, with one characterising it as “an administrative war” against its president, Victor Montagliani.
The Canadian is viewed by many in Uefa as the most credible candidate to beat Infantino, although Montagliani has yet to decide whether to stand and is committed to seeking re-election as Concacaf’s president.
Infantino has stepped up his re-election campaign in the aftermath of the World Cup sell-off scandal, ignoring a written request from Montagliani to stay away from a meeting of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) in the Dominican Republic last month.
As revealed by the Guardian, Infantino used the CFU meeting to announce approval for numerous Fifa-funded development projects for the region worth millions of dollars in what some observers described as an attempt to lobby for votes.
Mexico has split from Concacaf by announcing its support for Infantino, and losing the backing of the Caribbean would be a significant setback for those pushing to remove Infantino.
There have been some early signs that Infantino’s tactics are paying off, with the president of the Jamaican federation, Michael Ricketts, this week backing the status quo and comparing Uefa to spoiled children.
“Infantino might have made a mistake, but the intentions were to help Caribbean countries or help smaller countries,” Rickets told the Jamaica Observer. “Can you imagine Jamaica getting $40m to invest in football? Can you imagine the difference that would make in four or five years?
“I am not supporting Uefa because I think that they always want to be in opposition and always want to oppose. It doesn’t matter who is president, they are going to have issues. It doesn’t matter how well the president does, they are going to have issues and I think that Uefa is behaving like a set of spoilt kids.”
Uefa’s 55 members are believed to be united but the strength of the AFC alliance is unclear, with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates having defied the confederation by endorsing Infantino.
Infantino last weekend reaffirmed his intention to seek re-election for a fourth term. The deadline for other candidates seeking to stand is 18 November.
