The French Football Federation has joined other European national federations, including Belgium, Italy, Scotland, Sweden, and Wales, which have also publicly withdrawn their support for G. Infantino.
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Last weekend, FIFA confirmed that G. Infantino will run for president in the elections next March, despite a wave of outrage over his ultimately withdrawn plan to attract private investment into the men’s and women’s World Cup tournaments.
Currently, the 56-year-old Swiss citizen is the only candidate. However, the president of the North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football Confederations (CONCACAF), Victor Montagliani, is widely regarded as a likely challenger to the current leader.
“We believe that trust in the FIFA president has been betrayed, and the proposed way of governing world football no longer represents us,” said FFF president Philippe Diallo in a statement.
“Therefore, by unanimous decision of its members, the French Football Federation has decided to withdraw its support for Gianni Infantino’s candidacy for FIFA president,” he announced.
While such a move by the French federation was expected, it will likely hit G. Infantino hard.
Ph. Diallo added that France “has historical legitimacy as one of FIFA’s founders, and it has the right to intervene when it feels that FIFA and its president, in governing world football, are off course.”
“It also has sporting legitimacy, as it has been in the top three of the FIFA rankings for the past 10 years,” he noted.
G. Infantino replaced Sepp Blatter as president of the world football governing body in 2016. He faced huge pressure after proposals to establish a commercial subsidiary to organize major events such as the World Cup and the Club World Cup tournament were announced at the end of July.
Under this plan, private investors would have been able to acquire shares in a company created under the “FIFA Forward Enterprise” (FFE) initiative. Following outrage, these proposals were quickly withdrawn.
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) responded by threatening to boycott FIFA tournaments. It later withdrew this threat but called for G. Infantino to resign and is preparing possible legal action against him for alleged “criminal negligence in management.”
The FFF stated it will begin a consultation process before deciding what to support in the fight against G. Infantino in the elections to be held at the FIFA Congress in Rabat, the capital of Morocco.
V. Montagliani, who is a FIFA vice president, has long been considered a close ally of G. Infantino, but there were signs of some distancing even before the private investment plans were withdrawn.
However, G. Infantino is not without friends – last month, the host of the 2034 World Cup, Saudi Arabia, expressed support for him, and he is also backed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL).
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