Mexico's football federation has broken ranks with Concacaf to publicly back Fifa president Gianni Infantino, and Argentina's football association has followed with its own statement of support, widening the divide between the confederations that will decide his future.
The Mexican Football Federation said it "supports President Infantino's leadership in continuing to promote the development of football through institutional strengthening" and that it "will not recognise or approve any process convened outside of this institutional framework". It echoed South American governing body Conmebol's position that any move to remove Infantino must go through a vote of all 211 Fifa member associations, and endorsed the call Infantino made on 5 August for the game to keep working together.
The Argentina Football Association praised Infantino for recognising and apologising for "the errors made in this process", describing his decade in charge as built on "a model of transparent governance, respect for statutory structures and the monitoring of democratic procedures". It said it wanted Fifa's member associations to remain "united, firm and working" under his leadership.
The statements follow Infantino's decision to abandon a plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors, after Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian confederation rejected it. Uefa has said "these conditions have not been met" and that it retains no confidence in Infantino regardless of the climbdown. The English FA has withdrawn its support, and Wales, Albania and Croatia are among the other associations to have turned their back on him, while the Confederation of African Football remains unanimously behind him.