Noël Le Graët, president of the French Football Federation (FFF) weakened by an article in the magazine SoFoot evoking, on the strength of anonymous testimonies, the sending of SMS of a sexual nature to employees of the FFF, declared to The Team have “no intention of quitting at all”.
“I have no intention of quitting at all. If my health remains stable, if I’m fine, there’s absolutely no reason for me to quit. I’m fine at my job and everyone likes me. I am lucky to be appreciated, “said the boss of the FFF to the sports daily.
“You are awfully curvy”
“I have the clear, distinct and precise intention to go to the end of my mandate, until 2024. I don’t think I have the right to go further, I’m not sure (laughs). ..”, said the 80-year-old leader, in office since 2011, adding that “there is a president who is at the helm and who is in good health”.
Le Graët’s intervention comes five days after the publication by the magazine So Foot of a long investigation entitled “My Fede will crack” in which are quoted three extracts from undated SMS which would have been recipients of current or past collaborators of the FFF and that Le Graët would have sent: “Come to my house for dinner tonight”, “I prefer blondes, so if that tells you”, “you are awfully curvy, I would put you in my bed”.
A wave of resignations
According to a source interviewed by So Foot, several women have resigned from the body in recent years because they felt “sexually harassed, but also morally” within the FFF. Since the publication of this article, Noël Le Graët has been invited to “a moment of exchange” on Friday with the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, in the company of Florence Hardouin, general manager of the FFF. It is a question of talking about “different subjects”, “supporters, the energy transition, the World Cup, and the article of So Foot”, indicated the ministry.
To L’Équipe, who asked him what message he wanted to convey to the minister, Le Graët replied: “That the Federation is doing very well.” In a press release, the union of professional players UNFP nevertheless deplores the “inaction” of the federation in the fight against harassment, “sexual or not”, and hopes that this meeting can be “an opportunity to put an end to the harassment, this plague of French football”.