NOToël Le Graët in the background. The president of the French Football Federation, who has been chaining controversy for several months, will therefore no longer play his role, Philippe Diallo taking over. The extraordinary executive committee of the authority made this choice this Wednesday morning. For general manager Florence Hardouin, who had execrable relations with Le Graët, the sanction is more severe: she is “lay off as a precaution”, announced the FFF in a press release. Diallo’s interim must last “until the Comex following the publication of the audit report” on the functioning of the FFF, commissioned by the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra and expected at the end of January.
In the noose after his cookie-cutter remarks on Zinédine Zidane and the dissemination of a testimony on his sexist behavior, Le Graët ceded the reins of the proceedings at the end of the Comex specially convened on Wednesday to respond to the crisis that is shaking the “3F”. The meeting had started around 11 a.m. at the Paris headquarters of the Federation, boulevard de Grenelle. In office since 2011, the 81-year-old leader was to discuss several hot topics, such as the recent extension of coach Didier Deschamps, which was “unanimously validated”, according to the FFF.
“I welcome the decision taken by the Comex of the FFF to meet without delay and to act”, reacted the minister, who had urged the management of the FFF on Monday to “take its responsibilities”. This “results in the withdrawal of the president, a necessary step in view of the already known elements of his attitude”, she adds. The minister also said “take note” of the decision to lay off Florence Hardouin as a precautionary measure. The latter also felt unwell at her home on Wednesday. “She suffered from discomfort at home. For months, it has been attacked, and internally too, ”said a source close to the FFF, confirming information from the French daily The Team. According to the sports newspaper, the leader (55), “very affected by the turn of events”, felt “severe chest pains” while she was at home. A doctor recommended that she undergo examinations at the hospital.
She said she was “confident in the rapid, full and complete resolution of this crisis at the head of the first sports federation in France” which will allow her, among other things, “to better assume her ethical and societal responsibility in the future, in particular in terms of preventing and combating gender-based and sexual violence”.
With his recent controversial statements about Zidane, trouble was piling up for the former socialist mayor of Guingamp. And the members of the decision-making body of the Federation (14 including the president) had little taste for the last episodes which seriously damaged the image of the institution and cast doubt on the ability of its boss to go after his third and final full term, scheduled for December 2024.
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disrespectful exit
The disrespectful exit of Le Graët towards the playmaker of the 1998 world champions, Sunday on RMC, also ignited French football and aroused many indignant reactions. The Breton apologized Monday, via a press release sent to AFP, but the damage was done, in the eyes of the majority of the Comex. The testimony of players’ agent Sonia Souid, accusing him directly of repeated advances, only overwhelmed the octogenarian president a little more. His supposed sexist behavior, particularly with former employees, is at the heart of this audit.
Florence Hardouin, who notoriously no longer got along with Le Graët, was also sidelined. The conclusions of the audit launched by the Ministry of Sports are expected at the end of January, but the first elements have already leaked. France Inter thus revealed that “several women” had “denounced […] the attitude of Noël Le Graët towards them”, which was confirmed to AFP by a source familiar with the matter. According to public radio, a former executive “showed the inspectors text messages and WhatsApp messages” which “are certainly not illicit but […] raise questions given the hierarchical link”.
On Wednesday morning, members of the “dégommeuses”, a team composed mainly of lesbians and transgender people, brandished in front of the headquarters of the FFF signs hostile to Le Graët on which one could read in particular “Le Graët: Santa Claus is a scumbag », « Sexual harassment, Le Graët resignation ».
The FFF “deserves a president at the height”
In this explosive context, government spokesman Olivier Véran felt that the FFF “deserves[ait] a president at the height […] which gives a good image of French football across the planet”. The Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, had already had very harsh words for Le Graët on Monday. In a press conference, “AOC” had pointed to successive “exits from the road” and called on the Comex to “take its responsibilities”.
The political power has no way to dismiss the president of the Federation, FIFA being very finicky about the independence of its member associations. The Comex, the vast majority of whose members come from the list that Le Graët presented before his last re-election, in March 2021, ended up letting go of its leader. “Noël Le Graët is very unhappy,” Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas, a member of the Comex, told reporters after the meeting on Wednesday. According to the regulations, only an extraordinary Federal Assembly, convened by a quarter of the executive committee, can vote for the dismissal of the president. The next Comex after the ministerial audit could appoint a successor to Noël Le Graët, president world champion in 2018, finalist in 2022, and deposed.