The hour of the verdict on the FFF.

The auditors responsible for investigating its dysfunctions make their final report, Wednesday, February 15, to the main interested parties – including Noël Le Graët, boss of French football, on an ejection seat.

This is the last step for the inspection mission carried out by the Ministry of Sports, after final hearings and two weeks granted to Noël Le Graët, to the general manager Florence Hardouin (layoff) and to the executive committee. of the FFF to respond to the accusations.

After the epilogue of the audit mission, it will be time for the conclusions to be drawn for the Comex, the government of French football made up of fourteen people – including Noël Le Graët.

The ball is first in the camp of the president, set back since January 11 and pushed to resign by some of his relatives.

A departure or a return to business?

The 81-year-old leader should make his position known during an extraordinary Comex soon to be convened.

"The situation is untenable. The most honorable solution would be for him to resign", explains an elected official on condition of anonymity.

At the FFF, other voices describe a "Prez" (his nickname) sounded by events, considering himself innocent and reluctant to let go of the bar.

"A procedural parody" for the lawyers of Noël Le Graët

The president of French football, in office since 2011, has however been in the storm for several weeks, weakened by his clumsy statements about the icon Zinedine Zidane and by testimonies from women blaming him for inappropriate behavior.

Since mid-January, he has also been the subject of an investigation for moral and sexual harassment, opened following a report made by the inspectors.

The latter indicated that they would transmit additional elements of information to justice.

The pre-report of the General Inspectorate for Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) turned out to be damning: Noël Le Graët, write the inspectors, no longer has "the necessary legitimacy to administer and represent the French football" given "his behavior towards women, his public statements and the failures of governance" at the FFF.

In their observations, the lawyers of the president of the FFF, Mes Florence Bourg and Thierry Marembert, pound a text "enamelled with subjectivity, value judgments and interpretations against" and the impossibility, for them, "of bringing a contradiction" in the face of "excerpts from anonymous, fragmented, truncated, imprecise testimonies".

"The methods used by the inspectors, the media manipulations, the political interference give this procedure the aspects of a procedural parody", they denounce again, pointing to "dependant and unreserved ministerial pressure".

The possibility of disciplinary proceedings against the president of the FFF  

The Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castera, did not spare her criticism of "NLG".

After the first elements of the report, however, she voluntarily stopped answering questions about the FFF and its president.

She will hold a press conference on the subject Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the ministry.

This thorny question could be on the menu of the meeting between Emmanuel Macron and the boss of the International Football Federation (Fifa) Gianni Infantino, this Wednesday afternoon in Paris.

The next Comex of the FFF promises to be lively in any case, with the return of Noël Le Graët himself, a first for a month.

His withdrawal was scheduled to last until the Comex following the submission of the report.

The Breton can decide to give up his apron, under pressure from his former running mates, or to cling to his position, which would then place his close guard in embarrassment.

To make him leave, the members of the Comex would have no choice but to resign themselves to provoke elections, a radical hypothesis that some no longer exclude.

The Comex may also initiate disciplinary proceedings against Noël Le Graët.

This lever, highlighted by the audit mission, can lead to the "cancellation" of a licensee or manager who is guilty of "behaviour contrary to morals, ethics or undermining the honor, image or consideration of the FFF (...) or, more generally, of French football", according to federal regulations.

With AFP

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