David Ginola Announces Withdrawal from FIFA Presidential Election

David Ginola has ended his campaign to become FIFA's next president and withdrawn himself from May's election, in which he was set to challenge Sepp Blatter for the top job in football's governing body.

BBC Sport reported the news on Friday, with Ginola failing to secure the five nominations from national associations required for him to launch a campaign:

Sky News' Paul Kelso relays the former France international's comments following his inability to meet the required criteria ahead of Thursday's deadline:

Ginola's campaign was being backed by a well-known Irish bookmaker famed for its ingenious public relations stunts and always seemed to have something of a pantomime edge to it.

Sports writer James Masters echoes the attitude of many towards a stunt that seemed doomed to fail:

Blatter will be hoping to win a fifth term come May, and his expected challengers are Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, Dutch federation president Michael van Praag, former Portugal international Luis Figo and French former diplomat Jerome Champagne, per Sky Sports.