Overview
- FIFA issued World Cup accreditation for Christophe Gleizes and president Gianni Infantino publicly called for his release, reserving an empty press seat and inviting Gleizes' parents to a match.
- The accreditation authorises Gleizes to cover the tournament for the magazine So Foot and serves as a high-profile show of support from football's governing body.
- Gleizes was arrested in May 2024 while travelling to Kabylia to report on JS Kabylie and was sentenced in June 2025 to seven years for 'glorifying terrorism' after contacts with members of the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie, which Algeria designates a terrorist organisation.
- His lawyers say the path to a presidential pardon was cleared when prosecutors failed to win a tougher sentence on June 3 and Gleizes withdrew a Supreme Court appeal in March to enable clemency.
- Gleizes remains detained but his family say he is being treated well though isolated, and rights groups warn that FIFA's move could increase pressure on Algerian authorities before customary pardon windows such as July 5.