Saint Kitts and Nevis refuses to support CONCACAF in conflict with FIFA leadership

The federation is part of CONCACAF — one of the three confederations that accused Gianni Infantino of deception. It is the third of its members in a week to break with the line of its leadership

The Saint Kitts and Nevis Football Association (SKNFA) published an official statement in which it welcomed the withdrawal of the FIFA Forward Enterprise project and confirmed its support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

The document's key wording concerns not the project itself, but the conflict surrounding it. The federation states that the established institutional procedures within FIFA must be observed, and that it will not support any member association or confederation that seeks to undermine those procedures or to weaken the unity and governance structures of world football.

Saint Kitts and Nevis belongs to CONCACAF and the Caribbean Football Union. On July 28, CONCACAF rejected the project; on August 10, it signed a joint letter with UEFA and the AFC stating that the head of the organization had "abandoned his duty" and had broken trust "through deception"; and on August 11, together with the United States, Canada and two subregional unions, it called for "meaningful change." None of these documents set out the positions of individual associations.

This is the third instance of divergence within the confederation in a week. On August 6, Infantino was supported by the Mexican Football Federation, on August 13 by Grenada, and now by Saint Kitts and Nevis.

The federation explains its position by results, not politics. The statement speaks of financial and technical support from FIFA over the past ten years, of the country's first-ever appearance at a major international tournament in 2023, of participation in youth and women's competitions, and of assistance to clubs through the Member Associations Support Programme (MAP). The country's population is around 47,000 people; the federation has no domestic sources of football funding on such a scale.

The formula of support is nevertheless more restrained than that of the Arab six or of Mexico. The SKNFA speaks of supporting Infantino in completing his current constitutional mandate — that is, the term expiring in 2027. Nothing is said in the statement about the elections in March 2027 or about Infantino standing for a new term.

The arithmetic of the conflict changes little as a result, but it changes in one direction. Convening an extraordinary FIFA Congress requires written requests from 43 associations — as of today, not a single one has been submitted. Winning the election requires 106 votes out of 211. It is not the six confederations that vote, but the associations by name, and each such statement shows that a confederation's declaration is not automatically transferred to its members.

The Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan has not publicly stated its position.