Gianni Infantino has met President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace where they talked about football development around the world. “I am happy to have met the President of the Republic to discuss matters relating to FIFA and the development of world football,” said Mr Infantino. FIFA has a long-standing relationship with France – the country in which it was founded in 1904. Paris was the original home of FIFA, and in June 2021, President Macron joined President Infantino at the inauguration of a new FIFA office in the French capital, which now acts as its base for its football development activities. These include the FIFA FORWARD programme which began its third cycle this year and provides FIFA’s 211 member associations with projects and knowledge to develop football in their territories, with the aim of improving standards around the world. Meanwhile, in 2019, France hosted the most successful edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ in tournament history. It reached more than 1.1 billion viewers worldwide, and the round of 16 game between France and Brazil recorded in excess of 58 million viewers across 21 territories, a record for a single FIFA Women’s World Cup game. In the same year, FIFA signed an agreement with the French Development Agency (AFD), recognising football’s importance as a driver of development. Through their partnership, FIFA and the AFD are pooling their resources to promote unifying, educational, cultural and humanitarian values around the world through youth-oriented football development programmes.