The Scottish Football Association (SFA) has withdrawn its support for FIFA president Gianni Infantino and will not vote for his re-election in 2027, chief executive Ian Maxwell has confirmed.
The decision adds to growing pressure on Infantino as questions mount over his leadership, FIFA's governance and his eligibility to seek another term as president.
FairSquare, a non-profit organisation campaigning for greater accountability in sport, has written to FIFA's governance, audit and compliance committee requesting that Infantino be ruled ineligible to stand again.
Infantino has also faced criticism over an abandoned proposal to establish a new company responsible for managing the commercial and ticketing rights to FIFA competitions, including the World Cups.
Under the proposal, 21% of FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) would have been sold to a private investment company. The project was ultimately scrapped following widespread opposition from several confederations, led by UEFA, which has threatened to boycott FIFA competitions.
"The position of the SFA has been clear since the 55 UEFA associations met," Maxwell said while announcing Belgian Sebastien Pocognoli as Scotland's new head coach.
"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."
Maxwell also rejected suggestions that the SFA had previously avoided publicly withdrawing its support because its president, Mike Mulraney, chairs FIFA's finance committee.
The football associations of England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland have already withdrawn their support for Infantino, who is scheduled to seek another term as FIFA president in March.
Alongside the growing political opposition, FairSquare has questioned whether Infantino should be eligible to stand for re-election at all.
The organisation argues that he is already serving what should be considered his third and final term.
FIFA statutes state that a president can serve a maximum of three four-year terms, limiting their time in office to 12 years. If Infantino wins another election and remains president until 2031, he would have led FIFA for approximately 15 years.
The dispute centres on how his first period in office is counted.
Infantino replaced Sepp Blatter in 2016 and served the remainder of Blatter's term until 2019. He was then re-elected in 2019 and again in 2023.
In 2022, Infantino successfully argued to FIFA's governance, audit and compliance committee that his initial 2016-2019 period should not count towards the term limit because it was shorter than a full four-year term. That decision made him eligible to stand again in 2027.
FairSquare, however, argues that allowing Infantino to remain FIFA president for 15 years would contradict both the wording and purpose of the organisation's term-limit rules.
In a letter to the three members of FIFA's review committee, FairSquare claimed the decision "clearly violates the letter and purpose of the FIFA statutory provision on presidential term limits".
The organisation also argued that the exemption was granted without a clear legal basis, lacked transparency and was not accompanied by published reasoning.
FairSquare has additionally questioned why the FIFA Council was involved in granting the exemption rather than the FIFA Congress.
Pressure on FIFA's leadership intensified last week when UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation issued an open letter accusing FIFA and Infantino of breaking trust "through deception".
Signed by the presidents and general secretaries of the three regional governing bodies, the letter said the controversy surrounding the abandoned FFE proposal was fundamentally about "the integrity of the game, and the integrity of those elected to lead it".
Although the statement did not directly name Infantino, sources have indicated that it should be viewed as an opportunity for the FIFA president to resign and leave his position with dignity.
FIFA has committed to presenting a report on FFE at the next FIFA Council meeting, expected to take place in October.
However, the three confederations argued that FIFA's response failed to recognise that proper governance following such a "profound lack of judgement" would require a fully independent third-party review.
The statement also reinforced a legal warning from UEFA that FIFA should preserve all documents connected to the abandoned proposal.
Preliminary discussions have reportedly taken place between the three confederations regarding the possibility of breakaway competitions should Infantino remain in office, although substantive talks have yet to begin.
No candidate has currently declared an intention to challenge Infantino before the 18 November deadline.
The dispute has exposed significant divisions across world football.
The African, South American and Oceania confederations have backed Infantino, while opposition has emerged from UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation.
However, individual associations within those confederations have taken different positions.
New Zealand has broken ranks with the Oceania confederation and said it will not vote for Infantino.
Mexico, Grenada and St Kitts and Nevis have separated themselves from the other 32 Concacaf nations by supporting the FIFA president.
Within the 46-member Asian confederation, eight countries have so far backed Infantino: the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Kuwait, Mongolia, the Philippines and Bhutan.
The FIFA Council, comprising 36 confederation and national association representatives alongside Infantino, also appears divided.
That uncertainty raises wider questions over whether Infantino would retain sufficient political support to govern FIFA effectively even if he secures another election victory among the organisation's 211 member associations.
The first major test of UEFA's boycott threat is approaching quickly, with the FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup due to begin in just over three weeks. Poland will host the tournament, which features five other European nations, including England.
