Parents of French journalist sentenced to seven years in Algeria seek support at World Cup venue

Sylvie Godard and Francis Godard, mother and stepfather of detained French sports journalist Christophe Gleizes, spoke to reporters at the foot of MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on June 15, 2026. Gleizes has been held in Algeria since May 2024 and incarcerated since June 2025 after receiving a seven-year sentence for "advocating terrorism" while reporting on a local football club.

" FIFA had issued Gleizes symbolic accreditation for the 2026 World Cup tournament.

Journalists displayed a "Free Gleizes" scarf ahead of the French national team's press conference at the stadium. With approval from the French Football Federation, L'Équipe journalist Vincent Duluc relayed a question from Gleizes to coach Didier Deschamps about FIFA's cooling breaks during matches.

Deschamps replied that he had met Gleizes' parents at the French Cup final on May 22 at Stade de France and hoped the reporter would soon be able to ask questions himself.

Francis Godard stated that repeated outreach to players including Kylian Mbappé and Zinédine Zidane had gone unanswered. "On this point, we want to move to the next step, since we've reached out to them multiple times," he said. "Now, Mbappé has the World Cup.

He should focus on the World Cup, and we're not going to harass him about this. Same for Zinédine Zidane. We understood he couldn't intervene. " The French Football Federation and the Professional Football League have run a broad publicity campaign on Gleizes' behalf.

Francis Godard said the family remains "in the dark" about developments. " Release would require a pardon from Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on France 2 on June 11 that he hoped Gleizes could return to work in sports journalism and that he remained "determined" to secure the reporter's freedom, while acknowledging that timing is difficult to predict.