SFA chief delivers Gianni Infantino presidency verdict amid 'fundamental breakdown'

Infantino has seen global support drop markedly in recent weeks following his aborted plan to sell off a stake in the World Cup to private investors.

European governing body UEFA, the North and Central American confederation CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) had already made it clear Infantino had lost their confidence, while a number of individual associations – including England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland – have also confirmed they will not back the president.

UEFA threatened a boycott of FIFA competitions when Infantino’s plans came to light and the SFA aligned themselves with their stance with an official statement earlier this month. Chief executive Ian Maxwell confirmed on Monday that Infantino would not get Scottish football’s backing in his bid to win a fourth presidential term at the FIFA Congress in March.

“UEFA put out their statement and we said we were fully behind their position,” said Maxwell. “And that absolutely remains the case. We can’t say we’ve lost confidence in someone and then even consider re-electing someone in due course. So we won’t be voting for him the election comes in early 2027. That’s our position. We will see where it goes from here.

“It’s really frustrating that the most successful and best attended World Cup ever had been overshadowed by this. Every Scotland fan who was over there will tell you it was the best time of their lives. And that’s now been overshadowed by what’s happened next. That’s not right, that cannot be where we are as a game.

“We should be talking about the success of the tournament and the joy it brought to so many people, and the impact that fan have across the game all around the world for a long, long time to come. That’s been overshadowed by FIFA, by Gianni Infantino and everything that’s gone on since then. Therefore, there needs to be change.”

“On one hand, a FIFA president or UEFA president coming to the members with an idea for something is their job. But the way that happened was just unacceptable. It can’t leak into the media in the way it did, when it’s that far down the line. There cannot have been no discussion with anybody.

“From what I understand, it’s not even as though FIFA staff really knew that much about it. There’s been a fundamental breakdown in governance, procedure and protocol. And that needs to change.”

While Infantino has lost the support of many allies, The Confederation of African Football (CAF) and South American governing body CONMEBOL have both endorsed Infantino. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has warned FIFA would be making a “terrible mistake” if it got rid of the Swiss.

Infantino apologised for his proposal to create FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a company to run the commercial and operational aspects of FIFA’s tournaments, with an idea to sell off around 20 per cent to private investors – including a company headed by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. He has also put forward a notion of expanding the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams from its current 48-team set-up.