Noël Le Graët is no longer the president of the powerful French Football Federation (FFF). The now ex-Breton leader acted on it on Tuesday February 28 in “an extremely moving announcement” during the executive committee of the body, according to Eric Borghini, one of its members. A resignation which seemed inevitable, fifteen days after the delivery to the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, of an audit report from the General Inspectorate for Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) concluding that Noël Le Graët no longer had “the legitimacy necessary to administer and represent” French soccer.
Far from overwhelming the former mayor of Guingamp (Côtes-d’Armor), at the head of the “3F” for eleven years, the latter delivered a panegyric of the leader, saluting his “remarkable sporting and economic record”. “Since June 18, 2011, [date de la première élection de Noël Le Graët] the men’s and women’s teams have won eleven titles and played in six international tournament finals. These excellent results can be explained in particular by an ambitious training policy”writes the FFF in its press release.
As provided for by the federal statutes, the vice-president of the Federation, Philippe Diallo, will act as interim head of the body. “until June 10, 2023, date of the next federal assembly”. An armchair that he had already occupied since “withdrawal” of “NLG” in January. If Jamel Sandjak, president of the Paris – Ile-de-France League, had announced his departure from the executive committee on Thursday, the Breton leader, who has not yet spoken, will not have involved other members in his fall. .
“He was appointed because of his skills, expertise and experience”
If he definitely leaves the FFF, Noël Le Graët does not leave the world of football for good. The Breton leader remains representative of the president of the International Football Federation (FIFA) to the Paris office, an honorary position that Gianni Infantino entrusted to him in January 2022. “The president was appointed to FIFA by Gianni Infantino. He will head the Paris office. He was appointed because of his skills, expertise and experience.”, confirmed Eric Borghini, Tuesday, in remarks relayed by RMC.
“The departure of a man will not solve all the problems of the FFF, far from it. It is urgent that the Federation gets back on track, focusing on its fundamentals, in particular amateur football which is struggling.reacted Frédéric Thiriez, former president of the Professional Football League (LFP), on Tuesday, in The team. Calling on the Federation to “change its governance, which is neither democratic nor transparent”the one who rubbed shoulders with Le Graët during his mandate, between 2011 and 2016, maintains that “football could have been spared this crisis because all the disorders of the current governance had been known for several years”.
A finding that does not share the FFF, which denounced Tuesday the audit on the dysfunctions within the Federation. A report that has “sometimes leads to a disproportionate disparagement of the body”relates the press release, regretting the “lack of real adversarial procedure”. Commissioned by the Ministry of Sports, the IGESR audit mission resulted, Wednesday, February 15, in a damning report: the inspectors emphasizing in particular that “the policy to combat gender-based and sexual violence in the federal network [manquait] effectiveness and efficiency”.
Until then silent on the subject, the executive committee of the FFF drew the conclusions of this audit, Tuesday, after having recorded the resignation of Noël Le Graët. “The FFF notes that this report does not mention any systemic failure, nor any breach of its sovereign missions”underlines the press release, noting that “this report is based less on objective facts than on assessments which have sometimes led to a disproportionate disparagement of the body”. This offensive defense nevertheless ends with the engagement “to retain all useful recommendations” of said audit.
Corrigendum on February 28, at 2:45 p.m. : correction of an error on the date of the taking office of Noël Le Graët at FIFA.