Can Noël Le Graët still remain president of the French Football Federation (FFF or 3F) against all odds, and especially against the advice of the Minister of Sports?
While his mandate runs until the end of 2024, the facts and the statutes of the federation grant him this right despite the pressure put by the French government.
However in the long term, he could be forced to let go of his functions, thanks to the taking part of the public opinion.
Noël Le Graët announced on Tuesday that he was convening the executive committee of the FFF in an extraordinary session on Wednesday.
France 24 goes around the question.
What are the reproaches made to Noël Le Graët?
Inappropriate behavior, statements above ground on homophobia or the French women's team, sexual harassment, solitary governance… The list of grievances against Noël Le Graët, 81, is long.
However, it was his outspoken remarks about Zinedine Zidane that provoked an epidermal reaction from public opinion and part of French football.
"I wouldn't even have taken him on the phone," he said of "Zizou", considered the No. 1 option at the head of the France team in the event of non-renewal. Didier Deschamps, finally extended on Saturday until 2026. "To tell him what? 'Hello sir, don't worry, look for another club, I just agreed with Didier'?"
Asked about Brazil's supposed interest in the 1998 Ballon d'Or, he added: "I don't care, he can go wherever he wants, in a club he would have as many as he wants. wants in Europe, a big club."
But we do not touch "ZZ" with impunity.
The star of the Blues, Kylian Mbappé, reacted: "Zidane, it's France, we (do) not disrespect the legend like that ...", wrote the PSG striker on Twitter.
Zidane's ex-teammates in blue, including Youri Djorkaeff and Laurent Blanc, followed as did part of the political class.
Zidane is France, we don't disrespect the legend like that... 🤦🏽♂️
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) January 8, 2023
The statements of the leader of the "3F" could not have come at a worse time, as his hearing approached on Tuesday, January 10, by the audit mission commissioned by the Ministry of Sports to clarify in particular the managerial practices of the French Federation. de football (FFF) while Noël Le Graët is already shaken by accusations of "harassment" and "inappropriate" behavior on the part of ex-employees, anonymous and whom he has always disputed.
"On the side of the ministry, we insist on this audit which must shed light on its behavior with women and its management of the federation", recalls Nicolas Kssis-Martov, journalist at So Foot and author of "Des terrains de jeux aux terrains of struggles (ed. de l'Atelier). "There is the question of his remarks on homophobia, the women's team, Qatar.
He presents a face of football like an ivory tower sheltered from social and political turmoil."
The testimony of players' agent Sonia Souid on BFM-TV and published on Tuesday in the sports daily L'Équipe gave a layer of the alleged facts: "He told me one-on-one, in his apartment, very clearly, that if I wanted him to help me, I had to go to the pan", she says when she wanted to talk to him, recounting an appointment intended to promote women's football.
Referring to her past professional interactions, the agent explains that she had the feeling "that each time, the only thing that interests her, and I apologize for speaking vulgarly, are my two breasts and my ass".
Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera congratulated on Twitter "Sonia Souid for the courage of (her) testimony".
Congratulations Sonia Souid for the courage of your testimony.
Our audit will be worthy of it.
See you soon.
https://t.co/01C4lU7eP2
– Amélie Oudéa-Castéra (@AOC1978) January 10, 2023
How does the FFF and its Comex work?
However, the government has no control over the person who runs the French Football Federation.
The FFF is indeed both independent and connected at the same time to the French State.
According to its statutes, it is an "association in charge of a public service mission delegated by the State", a collaboration fixed within the framework of an agreement.
Clearly, the State delegates to the FFF the responsibility for the good management of French football, its competitions, or even the France team.
In exchange, the federation must participate in the missions normally devolved to the State such as the reduction of inequalities, sustainable development, the protection of its licensees or the influence of France through football.
The Comex is the governing body of French football.
It is made up of 14 members – 12 elected officials, including Le Graët, and two ex-officio members, namely the president of the Professional Football League (LFP) Vincent Labrune, and that of the Amateur Football League (LFA ) Vincent Nolorgues.
The fourteen members of this government of French football are indeed the only ones entitled to push Le Graët towards the exit.
Is the power of the French state limited?
"Today, a minister cannot release a president of a federation with the snap of a finger. And fortunately. But the State has a right of scrutiny and surveillance, in particular on compliance with the statutes", explains Nicolas Kssis-Martov .
Technically, the political power does not have the possibility of dismissing the president of the FFF, which would also provoke the ire of the International Federation (Fifa) which prohibits any state intervention.
"However, it is a little more subtle than that. It is obvious that the State has an influence when it is alerted. It can intervene with pressure outside the legal framework", recalls the So Foot journalist.
This is also the strategy adopted by Amélie Oudéa-Castéra: she takes public opinion to task to put pressure on the Comex, the only body that can decide on the departure of the manager, while advancing on the audit which could put accuse the president.
"There is a deep rift between public opinion and Noël Le Graët. The idea is to push him to retire in the name of the best interests of French sport. As was done for rugby there a few months", continues Nicolas Kssis-Martov.
Precedents of threat or sanctions from Fifa?
The minister knows that she is walking on a thread in her incitements to push Graët towards the exit.
Indeed, FIFA is quick to threaten governments meddling too closely in the affairs of its member associations, under its article 14. This specifies that the federations have the obligation to "direct their affairs in complete independence and ensure so that no third party interferes".
"The violation of its obligations by a member association entails sanctions […] even if the interference of the third party is not attributable to the member association concerned."
In 2010, shortly after the World Cup, Fifa had called to order the French Minister of Sports at the time Roselyne Bachelot, who demanded an explanation for the debacle of Knysna and the ridicule of the French team on strike against her coach, in mondovision.
In 2018, Fifa threatened Spain with exclusion from the upcoming World Cup when the president of its federation, Angel Maria Villar, was embroiled in a corruption scandal.
Fifa was not targeting the facts themselves but the intervention of the Spanish government.
In recent years, the exclusion from international competitions because of this point of regulation has been pronounced against Kuwait in 2015, as well as against Chad and Pakistan, in April 2021. During the past year, it has also agitated the threat against Tunisia shortly before the World Cup in Qatar.
However, Nicolas Ksiss-Martov nuances the inflexibility of Fifa: "If it understands that the FFF is on the verge of implosion, Fifa is pragmatic and will let it happen. It has already done so in the past", analyzes the journalist.
What scenarios to push Le Graët towards the exit?
"Everyone wants him to retire on his own," says Nicolas Ksiss-Martov.
This is the meaning of the interventions of the Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra and the exits of the figures of French football.
However, in the absence of self-criticism from the president of the FFF, the minister is pushing for other scenarios to be explored.
During a press conference on Monday, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra called on the FFF Executive Committee to "take responsibility".
"There are eminent personalities within the Comex who have demonstrated their value, their efficiency, their vision and their sense of responsibility. I know that they will demonstrate this again in the weeks to come and that they will be able to weigh in to put this Federation back on the right track," she said.
Not won, knowing that the members of the Comex were all elected on the list of the current leader
Indeed, if he does not resign, the president of the FFF can be dismissed in two ways: via a "federal assembly of the federation" which can "end the mandate of the Executive Committee before its normal term" according to article 12 of the FFF statutes;
or through a disciplinary procedure.
In both cases, some of his former supporters would have to turn against him.
However, the irremovable menhir was elected with 73% of the votes at the head of the FFF in March 2021. However, there is hope: according to information from RMC Sport, the Comex is agitated behind the scenes against the situation become "untenable" of its leader.
To the point that Noël Le Graët convened the executive committee in extraordinary session Wednesday morning.
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