During a meeting organized at the Elysee Palace on Monday in the presence of the President of the French Football Federation (FFF) Noël Le Graët, Gianni Infantino, President of Fifa, and Emmanuel Macron, the French President, “began to d 'agreement on the principle of opening a Fifa branch in Paris ”at the start of 2021. The teams of Choose France, the French program intended to attract foreign investors, must now work on the“ operational modalities ”of this establishment, adds Fifa in a statement.
For the body based in Zurich (Switzerland), it is a question of "consolidating its relations with France and the French-speaking world, as well as Unesco and the French Development Agency", without further information on the number of the employees concerned and their activity.
Interview between the President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron and the President of FIFA Gianni Infantino in Paris https://t.co/litHqi5IXz
- FIFA Media (@fifamedia) October 6, 2020
According to the newspaper Le Monde, Fifa wants to relocate part of its commercial services to Paris and organize meetings with French-speaking federations, especially African federations, regarding issues of governance and football development.
The opening of this branch should take place in February 2021. Fifa has thus made the choice of Paris, after having also studied cities such as Singapore, London and Dubai.
This is not the prelude to a possible return of the headquarters of Fifa to Paris, the cradle of the organization, a spokesperson told AFP.
Founded in 1904 in Paris, rue Saint-Honoré, in the 1st arrondissement, by the French, Belgian, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish, Swiss and Danish football federations, chaired from 1920 to 1954 by the French father of the World Cup, Jules Rimet, Fifa has been in Switzerland since 1932.
During this interview, they also discussed the consequences of Covid-19 on football as well as their joint projects for women's football and development in Africa.