A plebiscite.
President of the French Football Federation since 2011, Noël Le Graët was re-elected this Saturday for a fourth term at the General Assembly.
The 79-year-old Breton won the election with an overwhelming 73.02% majority.
Frédéric Thiriez collects 25.11% and Michel Moulin only 1.87%.
In a playful mood, he answered several questions after his success.
You won 73% of the vote, did you expect such a large score?
CHRISTMAS LE GRAËT
.
We had calculated between 65 and 68%.
I am very happy to have won this election.
Will you complete your four-year term?
Yes if I have health and I would not have presented myself if I did not have health.
I wish to remain president for the next four years and will go to the end if my health permits.
The idea is also to prepare my successor.
If I sense someone is available, I prepare to give up my place.
In any case, I will not be running for a new lease in 2024.
The list led by Noël Le Graët was elected to the Executive Committee of the French Football Federation for the 2021-2024 term during the Federal Assembly meeting this Saturday, March 13 in Paris https://t.co/4XpsBrABwY
- FFF (@FFF) March 13, 2021
What are your priorities for the next four years?
I am looking at the short term over the next three months.
We still have a small chance to be able to play at the amateur level.
I hope to convince the government.
It will still be complicated but I hope for the young people.
I would like to see the amateurs resume with tournaments by June.
Next season will be a year of readjustment but I promise amateur football will not be affected.
Amateur clubs will not be financially impacted.
We will make different expenses.
The budget will certainly increase from 260 to 230 million euros (M €).
The planned expenses for amateurs will remain intact.
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Do you still have some leeway for the championships?
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It is already March 13th.
If at the end of the month or the beginning of April we cannot resume, the championships will stop.
However, we want to open again as quickly as possible so that amateur clubs can organize small competitions.
We also want to see stadiums open as quickly as possible.
Can you imagine a next season like the one that is underway?
A season like this seems almost impossible.
The Covid-19 must go down but we are not very well.
We were able to restart the Coupe de France for amateurs in February and we believed that we were saved and that we could restart everything… But that's not the case.
Currently, the boss of football is the Covid.
Do you hope next year for an upturn in the number of licensees?
We have lost licensees this season.
However, we had been on a fantastic slope for several years.
The big loss of licensees is in the 6 to 10 year age group.
Our priority is to see the license-holders find their way back to the stadium, paying close attention to their health.
The kids I met during my campaign for the election always asked me when do we start again.
The kids want to play again and that is understandable.
Florence Hardouin will she still be the general manager of the FFF?
Yes it will remain so.
What did you say to your opponents?
It was courageous for them to stand as a candidate.
If there are good ideas that are acceptable, there will be no shame in holding them back.
What are the objectives for the teams of France with in particular the Euro which starts in less than three months?
The objective is to reach the last four for all the teams in France when they participate in a big competition.
We have a status to defend.
Will the Euro be changed?
Today, we remain on a format with 12 cities.
A UEFA Comex will take place next week.
The question is above all whether there will be an audience or not.
PSG and Lille have complained about the programming of the Round of 16 of the Coupe de France on Wednesday set first at 2 p.m. and then finally at 5:45 p.m.
The timetable is difficult to set up.
PSG are very strong and they are qualified everywhere.
This shows that PSG respect the championships and the cups.
I congratulate them because we don't have a lot of points at UEFA.
I would like the other teams to bring it back as well.
I think Lille play good ball, it's a real pleasure to see them play.
