Swiss FA withdraws support for FIFA chief Gianni Infantino

Gianni Infantino has been the FIFA president since 2016. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

The Swiss Football Association (SFV) on Wednesday announced that it has withdrawn support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s bid for re-election.

The federation, which had expressed its support for Infantino’s candidacy in June, reversed the decision in an executive committee meeting on September 25.

“The ‌decision follows a comprehensive reassessment of developments over the past few months,” ‌the SFV said in a statement.

“From the ‌SFV’s perspective, various incidents raise fundamental ⁠questions regarding leadership, governance, transparency and decision-making processes within FIFA,” it added.

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This comes as a blow for Infantino, who has come under fire over the past months after proposing a plan to sell a stake in FIFA tournaments to private investors. He wrote a letter to member associations this month to mend relations, but the Swiss body questioned FIFA’s decision-making process and duties.

“As these have not been convincingly clarified, we cannot ‌justify continuing to support Gianni Infantino’s candidacy,” the SFV said.