The situation had become untenable. Overwhelmed by an audit mission, accused of harassment and pushed from all sides to leave his post, the president of the French Football Federation Noël Le Graët resigned on Tuesday from the presidency of the French football federation (FFF). After eleven years of mandate at the head of French football, the Breton leader therefore directed his last “Comex” at 87, boulevard de Grenelle, Parisian headquarters of the most powerful sports federation in the country, about to change era.
Philippe Diallo will act as interim
The audit report of the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research (IGESR), delivered on February 15, which had no binding value, overwhelmed the “Menhir” of French football, released since months by the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra who had called on him to take “good decisions”. According to the inspectors, Le Graët did not have “more of the legitimacy necessary to administer and represent French football”particularly in view of its “inappropriate behavior […] towards women”.
If Breton’s lawyers denounced an audit mission “like an indictment”submitted “to political and media pressure which could only bias it”, Le Graët could only see that his Comex, once so loyal, no longer supported him. Vice-President Philippe Diallo will take over at least until June, when new elections should take place.
More information to come…