The former head of the Oceania Football Confederation, Reynald Temarii, has pulled out of a defamation case he had lodged in French Polynesia.
Mr Temarii failed to turn up for a court hearing in Papeete which had been called over his complaint against the publisher of the Tahiti Pacifique monthly, Alex du Prel.
The complaint had been lodged over an article last year when FIFA suspended him for 12 months for alleged corruption.
Mr du Prel says Mr Temarii also failed to pay the fee necessary for the case to proceed.
"Nobody was there in court and then when the court clerk checked if he had paid the deposit - you have to pay under French law if you make a libel suit you have to make a deposit, if you win the case you get it back, if you lose the court keeps it, equal to a 6,000 US dollar deposit, which was not made. So the president of the court dismissed the case."
Alex du Prel says by not turning up for the hearing, Mr Temarii has lost his credibility.