The leader of one of the world’s biggest regional soccer governing bodies will pay an official visit to the U.S. Virgin Islands later this week. Victor Montagliani, president of the Confederation of North and Central America and Caribbean Association Football — commonly referred to as CONCACAF — will be among the officials visiting St. Croix on Thursday as part of a tour through the territories. Officials with the U.S. Virgin Islands Soccer Federation announced Montagliani’s upcoming visit Tuesday, with the USVI the second stop on a three-stop series that includes the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands. “We’re definitely excited about this,” USVISF president Yohannes Worede said in an exclusive interview with The Daily News. “It’s not often that you get the heads of these confederations finding their way to your [location]. We’re definitely grateful for their coming, and hopefully they can lend us a hand as well.” According to USVISF general secretary Firas Idheileh, Montagliani’s trip has been in the works since March, with the multi-territory swing eventually taking the delegation to Asuncion, Paraguay, where the 75th FIFA Congress will be held beginning Thursday, May 15. “They let everybody know that they were planning to do different visits to different islands in the Caribbean,” Idheileh said. This will be the first visit by a high-ranking soccer official to the USVI since August 2019, when FIFA president Gianni Infantino headed a delegation to St. Croix for the dedication ceremonies for the then-USVI Soccer Association’s new Bethlehem Soccer Complex. Montagliani, also a FIFA vice president, was part of the 2019 delegation with Infantino, which also made other Caribbean stops — Curacao, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the British Virgin Islands — before coming to St. Croix. During the visit, Montagliani and other officials are scheduled to tour the facilities at the Bethlehem Soccer Complex — which was constructed under the “FIFA Forward 1.0” program — as well as meet with Worede, Idheileh and other USVISF officials. “My anticipation is that we can get a real picture of where we currently stand, and see what kind of assistance they can provide us,” Worede said. “They’ve been very forthcoming with technical support in many different forms. They also generously give us — not just us, but across the board — all the CONCACAF members get $300,000 in financial [assistance]. “We’d just like for them to come in and see how we have our operation set up, and see if there’s anything they see on the ground they can help us with.” Since Worede — also the president of the St. Croix-based Rovers Football Club — and his slate of officers were elected to four-year terms in late August, a number of changes have taken place within the organization. For starters, the USVISF has expanded its boys and girls national team programs, as well as starting up grassroots developmental leagues on both St. Croix and St. Thomas. “One of the big things that really we’re trying to focus on is trying to get our youth programs off the ground,” Worede said. “At the end of the day, without the growth of the youth programs, there’s no growth to the game. “We’re really just hoping that [CONCACAF] is there just for the support part of it. Beyond that, it really falls on our shoulders to do what needs to be done. They’re not going to carry the load for us.” The USVISF also created a new women’s club program, the 7-on-7 Women’s National League, which Worede said he hopes to expand to 9-on-9 teams for its second season. Add to that the USVISF’s ongoing plans to add a soccer complex on St. Thomas. Worede said that “Phase 0” is complete for the FIFA-funded project, with the USVISF recently reaching terms on a 50-year lease agreement on a tract of government-owned land in Estate Nazareth. “Everything can get really dragged out, but we’re hoping that if all goes right, maybe by early next year, we should be able to break ground,” Worede said. If that happens, construction could be completed by mid- to late 2027, which could then put the U.S. Virgin Islands in line for hosting regional tournaments like CONCACAF’s World Cup Qualifiers. “By virtue of having two international-class fields, that opens us up to potentially being able to host a little bit more,” Worede said. “St. Thomas might be a better option sometimes due to the fact that the hotel rooms, which we’re severly lacking on St. Croix.”