Should we professionalize the leaders of French sport, in particular by remunerating certain elected members of the Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF)? The subject has been agitating French sport for a few days and was, for more than an hour and a half, at the heart of the debates of the extraordinary general assembly of the CNOSF on Wednesday. "The question was not so much that of remuneration because we almost all agree on it, but rather that of the amounts which seem important to us", specifies a leader. However, some presidents wanted to debate the very principle of volunteering, on which the organization of French sport is based.
By virtue of its statutes, the French Olympic Committee can pay three elected officials. Until now, the subject had never really been debated because no president was paid at a high level. Denis Masseglia, at the head of the institution between 2009 and 2021, had for example, for a time benefited from an additional salary (less than 2,000 euros), corresponding to the fact that he had anticipated his retirement to become president.
Change of era with Brigitte Henriques, elected last June, who wished to be paid.
A rather legitimate desire, especially since she is 50 years old and plans to devote herself full time to her new functions and will resign in a few days from her post of vice-president of the French football federation, for which she was paid.
If his salary - adopted by the GA at 80% - is around 9,000 euros (the authorized ceiling) per month (excluding benefits in kind), these are the salaries envisaged for Didier Séminet, the secretary general, and especially Astrid Guyard , the Deputy Secretary General, which made elected officials jump, including some close to the president.
A general manager at 250,000 euros per year?
Didier Séminet finally let it be known that he wished to be a volunteer “for the moment”, while the deliberation concerning the salary of Astrid Guyard (slightly lower than that of the President), co-president of the CNOSF Athletes' Commission, was removed from the agenda. Other salaries are also cause. If Stéphane Goudeau until then director general should remain at the CNOSF, but as an advisor to the president, Brigitte Henriques plans to hire a CEO (the name of Erwan Le Prévost, who came from the football federation is circulating) and a director cabinet (Skander Karaa, a lawyer, former advisor to the Minister of Sports). The salary of the future CEO would exceed 250,000 euros per year.
"To justify this amount, we are being told that it could also take care of international relations, even if nothing seems to have been stopped," points out a leader. The salary amounts annoy several federation presidents, but also many CNOSF employees, worried about their future. All the more so since the institution's payroll (partly financed by public money) already exceeds 6 million € (for a total budget of 21 million €). The president, she insists on the fact that the financial situation of the CNOSF is healthy, thanks to the agreement with the State and the marketing contract with Paris 2024.
During the GA, several leaders nevertheless asked for clarification. "The climate has calmed down," said a president. No doubt because the question of the remuneration of the Deputy Secretary General has been postponed, with the idea of creating a modernization fund that would help the CNOSF but also the federations to remunerate their leaders. "What is annoying is that we spent more time on this subject than talking about the real things that currently concern us, such as the return to sports and the sports pass," laments a president.
