Taking part in the race for the presidency of the French Football Federation (FFF), Frédéric Thiriez saw his campaign thwarted by the removal of several personalities from his list of supporters.

Guest from Europe 1 on Saturday, the former president of the LFP evokes an error and claims to have apologized to the main concerned.

Former president of the Professional Football League, Frédéric Thiriez is now campaigning for the presidency of the French Football Federation.

Facing him, the current president Noël Le Graët is a favorite and could be re-elected for a fourth term.

While the campaign of Frédéric Thiriez was in full swing, a blunder came to stop the mechanics: by a message on social networks, the basketball player Tony Parker was offended to appear on a list of support for the ex of the LFP, "without [his] authorization".

I learned with surprise to be part of Frédéric Thiriez's support list for the presidency of the FFF via his website.

I strongly deny this information and I do not appreciate that my image is used without my permission!

pic.twitter.com/6gojpn2f4Q

- Tony Parker (@tonyparker) February 11, 2021

The list of supporters of Frédéric Thiriez is long.

It ranges from former footballers - Luis Fernandez, Emmanuel Petit, Basile Boli, Jean-Pierre Papin - to personalities outside the world of football - Gérard Depardieu, Kad Merad or even Soprano.

But at the microphone of Europe 1, the candidate recognizes "one or two small quack".

The basketball player Tony Parker is not the only one to have denied: the tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and the runner Ladji Doucouré would also have withdrawn from the list quite recently, although their names appeared there since December.

"This can happen when we are dealing with a hundred people who show their support for my approach", he explains.

>> READ ALSO

- FFF: why Luis Fernandez supports Frédéric Thiriez against Noël Le Graët

Simple "adventures on social networks"

Frédéric Thiriez explains apologized to those concerned and corrected this blunder.

He was nevertheless surprised at the long delay between the online publication of this list and the withdrawal of these personalities.

According to him, this case is in any case not likely to discredit his candidacy.

"We are talking about twists and turns on social networks…"

>> Find Europe 1 Sports in podcast and replay here

Insisting on the fact that his team is only made up of "friends", "entirely voluntary", he addresses a pique to his main rival: "I do not have at my service the 350 employees of the Federation who are preparing my campaign. "

A way of denouncing the use by Noël Le Graët of the means of the FFF for the needs of his campaign, introducing unfair competition.