The French Football Federation withdrew its support for Gianni Infantino’s re-election bid on Thursday, September 10, its executive committee voting unanimously against backing the incumbent it had endorsed only weeks earlier.
“The trust placed in the FIFA president has been broken,” FFF president Philippe Diallo said, adding that “the conditions for our support for his candidacy were no longer there.”
France joins a run of European federations that have publicly stepped away from Infantino in recent weeks. Belgium, England, Germany, Italy, Scotland, Sweden and, most recently, Austria have all withdrawn support, and Yahoo Sports put the total at roughly 25 nations that have moved against him.
Ethics complaint returns with 100,000 names
On Tuesday, September 8, the London-based rights group FairSquare filed a fresh ethics complaint with FIFA, backed by more than 100,000 public signatories, 50 members of the European Parliament and the Norwegian Football Federation.
Read also: Babar Azam signs for OGDCL and heads back to first-class cricket after seven years away
The complaint targets eight incidents tying Infantino to US president Donald Trump, including his award of the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize to Trump during the 2026 World Cup draw and Infantino’s involvement in a Trump-created “Board of Peace.”
FairSquare argues Infantino has “abused his power, violated his duty of political neutrality, and violated his duty of loyalty in his efforts to ingratiate himself with the US president.”
The eligibility fight
FairSquare has separately petitioned FIFA’s Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee to declare Infantino ineligible to run at all. The group says he has already served the three-term maximum in FIFA’s statutes; FIFA counts his 2016 to 2017 partial term, completing his predecessor’s mandate, as not counting toward the limit.
“The rules state clearly that three presidential terms is the maximum allowed; FIFA can’t simply circumvent this rule, which serves as a check on presidential power, by saying that his first term doesn’t count,” FairSquare director Nicholas McGeehan said.
FIFA maintains Infantino is eligible.
Kushner scheme pulled in August
Infantino’s campaign line lands after a bruising stretch inside FIFA. The FIFA Forward Enterprise project, a scheme to sell stakes in World Cup marketing rights to a private investor consortium fronted by Joshua Kushner, was pulled in August after European associations, led by UEFA, threatened to boycott FIFA competitions.
Kevin Lamour, FIFA’s chief operating officer, was dismissed in the fallout after criticising the plan internally. UEFA is pursuing criminal proceedings against Infantino in Switzerland and has filed a US federal court request for FIFA documents on the abandoned scheme.
March 18 in Rabat
The 77th FIFA Congress will hold the presidential election in Rabat, Morocco, on March 18, 2027. Candidates need nominations from five member associations by November 18, 2026, and the winner needs 106 votes from the 211 member associations.
Read also: Verstappen: I was closer to quitting F1 than joining any rival team
FIFA’s confederations, several of which have called for a change at the top, do not control how their members vote. Each of the 211 associations casts its own ballot.
FIFA has confirmed Infantino will run.
“The FIFA president announced in April that he will stand for re-election in 2027,” a spokesperson said. “Of course, nothing has changed. Mr Infantino will be standing for re-election.”
Read also: 'Right now, probably yes': Zverev accepts world-No. 1 label with a caveat after US Open triumph
Read also: Zverev on his strangest US Open moment: 'I thought it was 5-1'
