Hampden bosses will meet next week as they step up efforts to oppose FIFA chief Gianni Infantino and his controversial bid to introduce biennial World Cups.
The proposals – that would see the tournament held every two years instead of four – have sparked fury across Europe and South America. The SFA are also dead-set against the new scheme drawn up by former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenge r in an attempt to breathe fresh life into the international calendar.
Now SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell has called a board meeting for Tuesday, where he will outline his belief Infantino’s new format will have a negative impact on domestic competitions as well as placing the welfare of players at risk.
Maxwell made his feelings known to the FIFA boss during a feisty hour-long video call with leaders of European federations earlier this week.
Infantino had hoped to convince them of the benefits of doubling the number of World Cups and European
Championships so each season ends with a major tournament.
As part of the plans, the qualifying schedule – that splits fixtures across September, October, November and March – would be replaced by a month-long block of internationals around October and November each year.
But instead of being won over, furious association chiefs queued up to slaughter the contentious blueprint.
Maxwell highlighted the danger to domestic competitions if they’re forced to shut down each autumn.
Leaked footage reportedly shows the SFA boss asking the FIFA president to consider the “potential impact on sponsorship and spectator attendance”.
Romanian head Razvan Burleanu accused Infantino – who was previously the UEFA general secretary – of overlooking European concerns.
And the six Nordic nations warned they will even consider pulling out of FIFA unless Infantino backs down.
Infantino’s UEFA successor Aleksander Ceferin warned nations could end up boycotting the World Cup if the plans are pushed through.
But determined Infantino told the meeting: “The enemy of football is not the World Cup or FIFA but other activities that young boys and young girls are running after today.
“And we need to see how jointly and together we can bring them back to be interested in football.”
