FIFA is watching the fallout in France over the team's World Cup failure very closely and won't hesitate to suspend the 1998 champions if it discovers government interference.

France President Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed to personally investigate the debacle and met with Prime Minister Francois Fillon and Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot on Wednesday to discuss ways to reform French football.

France was eliminated from the first round after a tournament in which they went on strike, failed to win a match and had striker Nicolas Anelka thrown off the squad for insulting the coach.

FIFA statutes prohibit governments from interfering with the independence of FIFA members.

When countries are suspended, national and club teams plus referees cannot take part in international matches and officials are barred from attending football meetings.

A suspension would affect France's preparations to organise the 2016 European Championship. It was awarded the hosting rights last month by UEFA.

Iraq was suspended for interference in 2008 and FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, who is French, said Saturday that there's "no reason to have a different approach for a European country."

Valcke said he had already spoken with Bachelot over the matter.

"I told them to be very careful, because every time there is interference FIFA will react like any country," Valcke said. "We will definitely look at what France is doing, and that's not just because I am French.

"No (government official) can ask for someone to resign. There is a system in place to run football around the world and that system is under FIFA. We are always warning people about how this pyramid is working. I hope to avoid having to send an interference letter for this situation."

In FIFA's official rule book, Article 13.1.(g) states that national federations are obliged "to manage their affairs independently and ensure that their own affairs are not influenced by any third parties."

At its 2009 congress in the Bahamas, FIFA members agreed to take a tougher stance against federations whose work was interfered with by third parties - namely "politicians, governments, states, media, etc."

FIFA agreed then that federations should be punished even if they were not at fault for the third-party interference.

FIFA has shown in recent years that it will take a strong line against leading European football nations if governments try to influence the work of football officials.

Greece was European champion when it was suspended from world football for several days in 2006 because parliament tried to change a law regulating professional sports organisations.

Spain was threatened with expulsion just weeks before Euro 2008 because the incoming national government wanted sports federations to hold elections before the Beijing Olympics later that year.

The Spanish team's place was briefly in jeopardy for the European tournament which it went on to win.

Ethiopia was kicked out of its qualifying group for the 2010 World Cup after FIFA intervened in a power struggle for control of the national federation.

Iraq was suspended from world football for several days in May 2008 after its government disbanded all national sports bodies. The dispute threatened Iraq's place in the World Cup, and was resolved three days before it was scheduled to play a qualifier against Australia.

El Salvador referee Joel Aguilar almost lost the right to take part in the current World Cup days before the finals kicked off, after FIFA threatened to suspend his national federation in other domestic sports politics row.

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