Scottish FA withdraws support for Infantino in next year's FIFA presidential election

Chief executive Ian Maxwell says association agrees with UEFA that there has been a loss in confidence in FIFA leadership

The Scottish Football Association will not support Gianni Infantino’s bid for another term as FIFA president after losing confidence in the leadership of world football’s governing body, chief executive Ian Maxwell said Monday. Maxwell said the Scottish FA had aligned itself with the position adopted by UEFA and its 55 member associations following the collapse of Infantino’s controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal. “Their statement since then has talked about a lack of confidence in the FIFA leadership, and the Scottish FA agree completely with that decision,” Maxwell said while announcing Belgian Sebastian Pocognoli as Scotland’s new national team head coach. “The Scottish FA will not be voting for Gianni Infantino come the reelection in early 2027.” Maxwell said the association had made its position clear since UEFA’s members met to discuss the crisis, adding that “55 nations are stronger than one voice.” He also rejected suggestions that the Scottish FA had been reluctant to criticize Infantino because its president, Mike Mulraney, chairs FIFA’s Finance Committee. The announcement increases pressure on Infantino after FIFA abandoned plans to establish FIFA Forward Enterprise, or FFE, as a subsidiary managing commercial rights and event operations across FIFA competitions. The controversial proposal envisaged selling a minority, non-controlling stake of up to approximately 20% to private investors, raising as much as $4.2 billion based on an initial valuation of $20 billion. FIFA said it would have retained control of the company and used the proceeds to expand development funding for its 211 member associations. The organization later withdrew the proposal following widespread opposition. FIFA acknowledged that mistakes had been made in the process and communication surrounding the plan but maintained that it had acted in accordance with its regulatory framework. In a joint open letter last week, UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation, and Concacaf (for North, Central America, and Caribbean football) accused FIFA’s leadership of breaking trust through “deception” and described the FFE process as a “profound failure of judgement.” The three confederations also rejected FIFA’s plan to conduct its own review of the controversy, arguing that an independent third party should investigate the proposal.   Group for accountability in sports challenges eligibility The Scottish FA’s announcement came as FairSquare, a nonprofit group campaigning for accountability in sports, separately asked FIFA to rule Infantino ineligible to stand for another term. In a letter to members of FIFA’s Review Committee, which is responsible for doing eligibility checks, FairSquare argued that Infantino is already serving his third and final term. FIFA’s statutes state that its president is elected for four years and that no person may serve more than three terms, whether consecutive or not. Infantino was first elected in February 2016 to complete the term left vacant following Sepp Blatter’s departure. He was reelected in 2019 and again in 2023. FIFA has treated the 2016-2019 period as the completion of an interrupted mandate rather than one of Infantino’s three full terms. It consequently described his 2019-2023 tenure as his first full term and his current 2023-2027 mandate as his second. FairSquare disputes that interpretation, arguing that the exemption has no clear basis in FIFA’s statutes and that no detailed written justification for it has been published. The organization said allowing Infantino to remain in office until 2031 would extend his presidency to 15 years and “clearly violate” the purpose and wording of FIFA’s term-limit rules. Infantino, who announced his reelection bid at the FIFA Congress in April, has led the organization for more than a decade. No rival candidate has publicly entered the race.