Noël Le Graët: status quo at the FFF for its leader

Europe 1 with AFP 3:44 p.m., January 19, 2023

The French Football Federation (FFF) delayed Thursday on the fate of its president Noël Le Graët, withdrawn from office but still clinging to his post despite an investigation targeting him for moral and sexual harassment.

Meeting Thursday morning by videoconference without its 81-year-old boss, the body's executive committee discussed the situation of the Breton leader, but it stuck to the status quo, pending the publication of the audit of the General Inspectorate for Education, Sport and Research (IGESR), charged by the Ministry of Sports with clarifying the dysfunctions within the body.

The provisional report is expected in principle on January 30, then the Federation will be able to make observations before the final report is drawn up.

Will this overwhelm Noël Le Graët?

The future of the former mayor of Guingamp, in office since 2011, risks considerably depending on it.

"The Comex will meet a few days later to devote itself entirely to the consequences of the audit, which takes us around mid-February," explained to AFP Eric Borghini, member of the executive committee and president of the Federal Commission for referees.

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Went on vacation to Martinique

Already weakened by numerous controversies and singled out by several testimonies from women accusing him of sexist behavior, Noël Le Graët was forced to step back last week during an extraordinary Executive Committee convened just after statements to the cookie cutters about the icon of French football and sport Zinédine Zidane.

And the opening Monday by the Paris prosecutor's office of an investigation targeting him for moral and sexual harassment, following a report made by the auditors of the IGESR, has darkened his prospects.

The "Fédé", now headed on an interim basis by Vice-President Philippe Diallo, is therefore trying to continue its work without Le Graët, who has gone on leave in Martinique.

On Thursday, the body notably advanced on the arbitration file and decided to ask Ifab, guardian of the rules of the game, for authorization to sound its referees in Ligue 1, on an experimental basis.

More support from the executive committee?

Quickly, however, the file of his management will come back on the table: the general manager Florence Hardouin has indeed been laid off and Noël Le Graët, arrived on the ruins of the fiasco of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, seems more than ever close to the exit.

If he has long been supported body and soul by his executive committee - made up of members of his list for his last re-election, in 2021 -, this is no longer the case in recent weeks.

If no member has publicly called for his resignation, several have encouraged "NLG" to drop the bar.

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Noël Le Graët denies the accusations

Outside the "3F", the climate is even more hostile and calls for a departure are increasing.

A resignation of Noël Le Graët "would be an extremely positive signal sent to all the victims", launched the Minister Delegate for Gender Equality, Isabelle Rome, Monday on the Public Senate channel.

But the boss of French football clings: Tuesday, he denied the accusations, attacking, in a press release sent to AFP, the leaks organized "through the press" and castigating an "administrative investigation, obviously to charge", for which he did not have "the opportunity to present his observations in defence".

He also scratched the "interference and political pressure"

If the former president of En Avant Guingamp does not resolve to hand over on his own initiative, the Comex could launch an appeal in this direction, according to a source familiar with the matter.

But the Executive Committee's room for maneuver remains limited: the "government" of the FFF can only "encourage" the president to give up his apron, explains one of the members, and cannot force him to leave the stage. .

If Le Graët refuses to step aside, the great fear of elected officials is above all to see the Federal Assembly being convened by a quarter of its members in order to dismiss the Comex as a whole.