French president Emmanuel Macron has personally intervened in the dispute surrounding FIFA president Gianni Infantino, directly opposing a proposal to open part of the World Cup’s commercial rights to private investors.
Macron reportedly told Infantino during a phone call that he categorically rejected the controversial reform, according to French sports newspaper L’Equipe. The plan had triggered widespread opposition within the governing bodies of world football and ultimately led Infantino to step back from the proposal.
The French president also contacted Confederation of African Football president Patrice Motsepe, expressing his full support for the position taken by UEFA and its president Aleksander Ceferin. UEFA and Ceferin had led the campaign against the project.
A source close to the French government told L’Equipe: “The President of the Republic is actively involved in this matter, just as he strongly opposed the European Super League project, which particularly challenged the principles of solidarity and sporting merit.”
Macron’s direct involvement underlines the level of concern in Europe over attempts to introduce private ownership and investment into the commercial structure of global football. FIFA is already facing increasing scrutiny over the transparency of its decision-making and the direction of its commercial policies.
The project, known as FIFA Forward Enterprise, was designed to sell a share of the World Cup’s commercial rights to a private investment fund. The proposed deal was expected to generate billions of dollars, but it also raised fears that FIFA could lose control over the world’s most important football tournament.
The proposal placed the commercial future of the World Cup at the centre of a wider debate about how football’s most valuable assets should be managed. Critics feared that opening the rights to private investors could alter the balance between football’s governing bodies and commercial interests.
Macron’s position is consistent with his previous opposition to the European Super League in 2021. That breakaway competition collapsed only days after it was launched, following intense pressure from supporters and politicians. It was widely viewed as a threat to the principles of fairness and open competition in European football.
The French president’s latest intervention also creates further difficulties for Infantino, who is facing growing calls for fundamental reform of FIFA’s administration. Those demands include renewed scrutiny of the commercial policies pursued since Infantino became head of world football’s governing body.
The dispute has therefore developed beyond an internal FIFA disagreement, with senior political figures and leaders of major football confederations now publicly aligned against the proposed rights model. Macron’s conversations with Infantino and Motsepe signal the seriousness of the resistance, while Infantino’s retreat suggests the plan has encountered significant opposition at the highest levels of the sport.
