French Football Federation: Le Graët, four more years for what?

And a little joke to finish.

Noël Le Graët is not really used to the fact, but at the time of closing the press conference which sealed his overwhelming victory as President of the French Federation (FFF) with 73.02% of the vote ahead of Frédéric Thiriez (25, 11%), the Breton allowed himself a touch of humor.

“Good afternoon, and see you in 4 years,” he told his audience.

Surely the euphoria and relief after a success which, admittedly stretched out its arms to him, but for which he did not spare his efforts during the last two months.

At 79, the Breton elected since 2011 will therefore go on to a fourth term with a question mark on his ability to complete it, and some post-Covid projects to be initiated.

Will he stay until 2024?

A few minutes after his success, Noël Le Graët said he would go to the end of his last term ... if his health allows it (he suffered from leukemia in 2018).

"The idea is also to prepare my successor," said the 79-year-old Breton.

If I sense someone is available, I prepare to leave my place.

Three names often come up to take over.

They are Jean-Michel Aulas, Marc Keller and Jamel Sandjak, all members of the Comex (executive committee).

The first two, presidents of a L 1 club (Lyon for Aulas and Strasbourg for Keller), will have to resign if they wish to accede to the throne of the federation.

Jean-Michel Aulas has mentioned in recent months the possibility of giving way to Tony Parker.

Marc Keller, endowed with a less divisive personality than the Lyonnais, is well esteemed by the executives of the Federation.

Jamel Sandjak, the president of the League of Paris-Ile-de-France, joined Noël Le Graët for this election after being his opponent in 2011 (with Fernand Duchaussoy) and in 2017 (with Jacques Rousselot).

Thanks to the voices of the powerful Ile-de-France League and his large network at the amateur level, Sandjak has enabled the outgoing president to win an overwhelming victory and now dreams of succeeding him.

And now ?

The coronavirus crisis has burdened the accounts of professional clubs but it has also caused damage in the amateur world with a drop in the number of licensees, especially among the youngest between 6 and 10 years old.

After years of rising, the overall drop in members reached 10% (with a peak between - 15 and - 20% among the youngest).

On the other hand, the FFF, which had succeeded in increasing its budget to 265 million euros in 2018-2019, saw its revenues fall to 234.7 million euros in 2019-2020, a decrease of 11%. .

Asked after his election on the corrective measures to be applied to stop these stalls, Le Graët spoke of next season as "the year of recovery".

Communication campaigns are in particular being prepared to encourage young footballers to join the clubs.

But it will still be necessary for the coronavirus crisis to finally allow a resumption of activity while the final end of the amateur championships should be acted soon (a priori on March 24) and that the stadiums still cannot accommodate public.

As the still president of the FFF has rightly said: "Currently, the boss of football is the Covid".

With or without Deschamps?

In office since 2012, Didier Deschamps will see his coach's contract end after the World Cup in Qatar, in December 2022. Le Graët, reelected, will therefore discuss the rest with the boss of the Blues and make a decision, as he us He confided last month: “If I am in place, it is likely that I will discuss again with Didier.

Today, I am not sure that he wants to leave the France team after the World Cup in Qatar ”.

The president of the FFF has long considered that Deschamps will become his successor at the head of the Federation, but it is not certain that the double world champion (as a player and then a coach) wants to embark on a career as a leader.

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On the other hand, he feels neither worn out nor bored by his role at the head of the Blues which allows him to combine his passion for high level and his family life.

In addition, he feels armed to accompany this generation of French players for the next four or five years.

Apart from an industrial accident at Euro 2021 or during the 2022 World Cup, nothing today stands in the way of a continuation of his mandate as coach of the Blues.