3 reasons: why has France joined the war on Infantino?

The French Federation has settled its position on the FIFA president

The French Football Federation (FFF) joined other European federations today, Thursday, in deciding to withdraw its support for FIFA president Gianni Infantino in the elections scheduled for 18 March 2027.

Philippe Diallo, the president of the French federation, had immediately opposed Infantino's plan to cede World Cup shares to private funds controlled by figures close to US President Donald Trump. The controversy grew so fierce that Infantino himself ended up freezing the initiative.

Diallo also took aim at the Swiss official, born to Italian parents, over the way he distributed prize money in recent tournaments, according to the Spanish network "Cope" .

The French official voiced his regret that the Club World Cup, first held in 2025 at Infantino's instigation, was far better funded than the 2026 World Cup staged in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

His criticism ran deeper still, targeting the non-collective style of governance under the current FIFA president. Infantino was first elected in 2016, in the wake of a major crisis that shook the institution over corruption cases.

Diallo's stance broadly mirrors that of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), whose Slovenian president Aleksander Ceferin remains locked in open confrontation with Infantino.

Infantino's projects have already cost him some of his closest aides. Frenchman Kevin Lamour, the third man at FIFA until the beginning of last August, was one of them.