Scottish FA Withdraws Support for Gianni Infantino
The Scottish FA has walked away from Gianni Infantino.
Ian Maxwell, the governing body’s chief executive, says the organisation has lost confidence in the Fifa president and will not back him when he seeks re-election in early 2027.
The move drops another heavyweight European association into open opposition to Infantino, whose grip on power is being tested by the furious fallout from his failed Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan.
Scotland breaks ranks – and makes it public
Speaking to BBC Sport as he unveiled Belgian coach Sebastian Pocognoli as the new Scotland head coach, Maxwell made the SFA’s stance unmistakably clear.
“The position of the SFA has been clear since the 55 Uefa associations met,” he said. “We have aligned ourselves with the Uefa position and 55 nations are stronger than one voice.
“Their statement since then has talked about a lack of confidence in the Fifa leadership and the Scottish FA agree completely with that decision.
“The SFA will not be voting for Gianni Infantino come the re-election in early 2027.”
That public declaration ends any lingering doubt over where Scotland stands in the widening rift between Fifa and key confederations.
Maxwell also dismissed the idea that the SFA had stayed quiet out of sensitivity to internal politics, with its president Mike Mulraney currently chairing Fifa’s finance committee. According to Maxwell, Scotland’s position has been set since the Uefa summit of its 55 member associations.
The FFE flashpoint
At the heart of the storm sits Fifa Forward Enterprise, a proposed new company that would have controlled the commercial and ticketing rights for all Fifa competitions, including the World Cups. Under the plan, 21% of that vehicle would have been sold to a private investment firm.
The backlash was immediate and fierce.
Uefa led the resistance, with backing from other confederations, and even raised the prospect of a boycott of Fifa competitions. Under that weight of opposition, FFE was abandoned.
The anger, though, has not eased with its collapse. If anything, it has hardened.
Last week, Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation issued a blistering open letter, accusing Fifa and Infantino of breaking trust “through deception”. The document, signed by the presidents and general secretaries of all three regional bodies, framed the dispute as a question of “the integrity of the game, and the integrity of those elected to lead it”.
Infantino was not named. He did not need to be. Sources have told BBC Sport the letter should be read as an invitation for the Fifa president to step aside and leave office with some dignity intact.
Demands for scrutiny – and a warning
Fifa has promised to present a report on the FFE saga to the next Fifa Council meeting, expected in October. That pledge has done little to calm critics.
The three confederations say an internal review is nowhere near enough. In their view, proper governance demands a fully independent third party to examine how the project was conceived, advanced and only then scrapped.
They have also underlined Uefa’s legal warning that Fifa must not delete or destroy any documents linked to the abandoned scheme. The message is blunt: this episode will not simply be swept away.
Behind the scenes, conversations have already gone further than many at Fifa headquarters would like. BBC Sport understands there have been preliminary discussions between Uefa, Concacaf and the AFC about possible breakaway competitions if Infantino remains in office. Others close to the talks stress that these are early, exploratory contacts rather than formal negotiations.
Even so, the fact those discussions exist at all underlines the depth of the fracture.
A president under pressure – but still unchallenged
Infantino is due to stand for a fourth term as Fifa president in March. The Football Associations of England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland have already withdrawn their support. Scotland has now joined them.
Yet, for all the noise, one striking detail remains: as things stand, no rival candidate has formally stepped forward to challenge him. The deadline for nominations is 18 November.
The clock is ticking. The alliances are shifting. And world football’s most powerful office suddenly looks far less secure than the man who holds it would like.
