The French Football Federation decided this Thursday to withdraw its support for Gianni Infantino in his bid for re-election as head of FIFA. The Executive Committee of the entity, meeting in a regular session, unanimously formalized this position, according to the newspaper L'Equipe. With this step, France aligns itself with other major European associations such as those of England and Italy, which had already distanced themselves from the Swiss leader.
The decision did not come overnight. The president of the FFF, Philippe Diallo, had expressed his reservations since July about the direction taken by the highest organization of world football. At that time, he considered that the conditions to maintain support were no longer met. Now, along with his colleagues from the Executive Committee, he concluded that the trust placed in Infantino has been broken.
"The current management of football is not appropriate," Diallo declared to French media. The leader also emphasized France's historical legitimacy in governance matters of the sport, recalling that the country contributed to the founding of FIFA and has been among the top three national teams in the world for a decade.
One of the breaking points was the project promoted by Infantino to grant World Cup shares to private funds linked to people close to U.S. President Donald Trump. The initiative generated strong rejection and was ultimately shelved due to the controversy it sparked. Diallo had immediately opposed that idea.
Criticism of prize distribution and governance style
The French president also questioned the way economic prizes were distributed in recent tournaments. In particular, he lamented that the Club World Cup, held for the first time in 2025 at Infantino's behest, had a much higher prize pool than the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
To those observations, a more structural criticism was added: the uncollegial manner in which, according to Diallo, the current FIFA president exercises power. Infantino was elected for the first time in 2016, amid a deep institutional crisis marked by corruption cases that shook the organization.
The position of the FFF coincides with the confrontational climate maintained by UEFA. Its president, Slovenian Aleksander Ceferin, has been at war with Infantino for some time. France, in that context, decided to open a series of consultations with prominent French and foreign figures in good governance. The goal is to contribute ideas to the reflections already taking place in Europe and, when the time comes, to designate the candidate who will defend their colors in the next election.
The tensions are not limited to the federations. Some of Infantino's closest collaborators have already left their positions. The most recent case was that of Frenchman Kevin Lamour, who until early August held the number three position in FIFA's structure. His departure was interpreted as yet another symptom of the wear and tear affecting the management of the Swiss leader of Italian descent.
