Emmanuel Macron has offered to support Arsène Wenger in a campaign to challenge Gianni Infantino for the Fifa presidency.

Sources told The Telegraph that the French president offered to lobby other world leaders to also back the campaign.

Mr Macron was said to have contacted his fellow countryman to convince him to put his name forward.

It is seen as a key intervention before the November 18 deadline for candidates to enter the race for the Fifa presidency.

Wenger, who has publicly condemned Mr Infantino’s abandoned World Cup sell-off plan, is seen as Europe’s best hope of unseating the controversial Swiss-Italian football executive.

The Telegraph recently reported that European football executives have been urging the former Arsenal manager to challenge Infantino.

If Mr Macron goes public with his support, he will become Wenger’s most influential backer. But it remains unclear whether Wenger decided to take up the French president’s offer.

Some figures within the game have reservations about Mr Macron’s involvement because of the hostile attitude to their country, a former colonial power, across Africa.

“He [Mr Macron] has offered to help, but there are concerns,” a source familiar with the discussions told The Telegraph.

“If he does any campaigning in West Africa, it could work against Wenger.”

Over almost a decade in power, the French president’s relationships with his country’s former colonial possessions have become strained.

In 2025, Mr Macron was accused of insulting “all Africans” after he claimed the continent’s leaders had “forgotten to say thank you” for French military deployments to counter insurgencies.

Paris’s influence has also waned in its former colonies – Mali, Niger, Côte d’Ivoire and Chad – where it has been outmanoeuvred by Russia and China.

If Wenger is to succeed in unseating Infantino, he will need to secure the votes of African football associations. The Fifa president has spent time lobbying the continent, as well as the Middle East, to secure the 106 votes he needs to be reelected.

Uefa, European football’s governing body, has yet to announce a candidate, but would throw its weight behind Wenger, should he join the race. Uefa is understood to have no active involvement in encouraging him to run, but it seems certain it would rally behind him should he come forward.

If Wenger decides against running this week, Uefa will support Kozo Tashima, the head of the Japan Football Association.

The prospect of a serious challenger to Mr Infantino’s presidency comes as political pressure mounts on Fifa in the US.

The Telegraph disclosed on Tuesday how Infantino faces congressional subpoenas within weeks as he is expected to be hauled before the House Judiciary committee. Investigations into Fifa’s ties with Donald Trump are being expanded after the landslide midterm victory that handed the Democrats control of the House of Representatives.

Documents have been requested relating to The Telegraph’s investigations that Infantino told Carlos Cordeiro, his top go-between with Mr Trump, to help secure a work permit for an immigrant maid at his luxury Miami home. Fifa denies any wrongdoing.

Infantino had already been facing intense scrutiny over his relationship with the US president and his circle, having secretly held talks to sell a share of World Cup rights to a company owned by the brother of Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law. One source says it is a “distinct possibility” the Kushners could also be called to give evidence in January. A subpoena for Mr Trump is not expected at this stage, however.

In August, The Telegraph disclosed how Uefa paid off an alleged lover of Infantino while he was its general secretary. The woman received a six-figure sum after the alleged relationship with Infantino ended while he was a top official at European football’s governing body before moving to Fifa.

The Fifa presidential elections take place next March and, aside from Wenger, there is understood to be another prominent figure in the game considering a challenge.

Ramon Vega, the former Tottenham Hotspur defender, also plans to run, but it is unclear whether he has the necessary backing of five national federations to feature on the ballot.