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Le Graët, rise and fall of the French football boss

2023-01-30T11:04:45.120Z


The president of the French Federation, removed from office amid accusations of sexual harassment and outbursts, faces an official investigation that could put an end to a career where politics and sport have mixed


Each country produces its particular species of sports leaders, a reflection of a specific place and time.

Spain has had its

jesusgiles

, its

villares

, its

Florentines

.

France has a unique character, Noël Le Graët (Kerdonnad, 81 years old), a strong man in French football for more than a decade and today fallen from grace.

Le Graët has presided over the French Football Federation (FFF) during one of its golden ages: a championship and a World Cup runner-up for the

blues

, a second place in the Eurocup, and the consolidation of the country as the world's leading factory for ball stars.

It is a typical case of those leaders who, having retired a few years earlier, would be celebrated and perhaps one day give their name to a stadium or a street.

It can't be.

Because Le Graët, re-elected in 2021 for a fourth term at the head of the FFF, is experiencing a catastrophic end of the era, between accusations of sexual harassment and outbursts that have confronted national football totems such as Zidane and Mbappé and with the president of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron.

It is difficult now to find someone who defends him.

Noël Le Graët shakes hands with Aleksander Ceferin after France's victory over Morocco in Qatar.Jean Catuffe (Getty Images)

He is a French

self-made man

, the only child of a humble family in the Breton countryside, socialist mayor of the municipality of Guingamp, who put his modest club on the map of French football and created a prosperous food business group with 800 employees and a turnover of 200 million euros per year.

He was courted by politicians from all fields, and he did and undid football in France.

Nobody wants him around today.

The moment of truth may finally sound this Monday, when the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research (IGESR, by its French acronym) transmits to the interested parties the provisional results of an audit on the management of it in the PFF.

The report, commissioned in September by the Sports Minister, Amélie Oudéa-Castera, will not be made public, and the final version will not be ready until a few weeks later.

But it has already served the inspectors to collect testimonies of harassment and sexism, such as that of the agent Sonia Souid.

"She gave me to understand that she would want me to end up in her bed," Souid, who treated Le Graët for years in her professional life, told the French media.

Florence Hardouin, general director of the FFF, has made it known to her entourage that she was also a victim of sexual and moral harassment, according to

Le Monde

.

The prosecution is investigating, but there is, for now, no formal accusation.

On January 11, Le Graët was removed from office pending the audit, although he formally still retains it.

And he refuses to leave it.

He denies everything.

"It's not a surprise what happens," explains Nicolas Kssis-Martov, author of the book

Qatar, the World of Shame

and journalist for

So Foot

, a magazine for which he has followed the tribulations of Le Graët.

“For years now, as president of the FFF, he has caused a scandal with his statements denying racism in soccer, or by talking about women's sports.

On the other hand, his management was criticized, because he ran the federation in an authoritarian and lonely way.

That she reappeared at 79 years old already shocked.

And for a long time, as

So Foot

published , there were complaints from women in the federation who complained about their attitudes.

What is striking is that, although all this was discussed behind the scenes and testimonies had even been published in the press, it was an interview on the RMC network on January 8 that unleashed the storm and may have put an end to his long career. .

France had just lost to Argentina on penalties in the World Cup final in Qatar.

The debate about whether it was time for a replacement in the dugout had reopened, and the name of Zinedine Zidane was on everyone's lips as a possible replacement for Didier Deschamps, in charge since 2012. But Le Graët renewed Deschamps until 2016. Discussion settled.

The interviewer asked: "Has Zinedine Zidane tried to call you these days?"

The president of the FFF responded: “Not at all.

I wouldn't have picked up the phone."

"Why?" insists the journalist.

Answer: “To tell you what?

Good morning sir?

Don't worry, look for another club, I'll agree with Didier?”

It was the straw that broke the camel's back: Zidane, the greatest footballer in the history of this country, is not touched.

"Zidane is France, there is no disrespect to such a legend," said French star Kylian Mbappé.

The Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castera commented: “You cannot continue in a situation with so many outbursts, with so many statements that shock, that hurt, that are sometimes a form of insult to what some legends can embody.

It is unacceptable".

It was understood that she was also speaking on behalf of the Government.

And from Macron.

Zidane c'est la France, on manque pas de respect à la légende comme ça… 🤦🏽‍♂️

— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) January 8, 2023

What could have brought Le Graët to this point?

The drunkenness of power, perhaps.

Age, justify some.

Or the personality of these sports leaders who believe they are authorized to everything: more powerful than politicians, above the stars who are the ones who make the public vibrate and win the titles.

France, in this, is a particular case, as if the hyper-presidentialism of the political system – not in vain has the current Fifth Republic been described as a “republican monarchy” – was reflected in the world of sports: the president above everything and everyone .

“Le Graët used an expression: 'The ministers pass, I follow,'” notes

So Foot

's Kssis-Martov .

"In France we have presidents almost by divine right and this is seen in the presidents of the federations."

His is a very French story.

From appliance salesman to president of a small football club and politician in the orbit of François Mitterrand, leader of the professional league and successful businessman, the rise and possible fall of Le Graët is a story of post-war France, of the years of expansion and the power of sport.

The father was a farmer.

His mother, a cleaner.

Both were communist voters.

He, until he was 20 years old, too.

At home they spoke Breton.

"He is marked by a modest childhood and by the frustrations linked to his place on the social ladder,"

L'Équipe

wrote in a biographical series on the FFF president.

The French sports newspaper reported that, at the age of eight, a richer classmate invited him to his birthday, but they did not let him into the house, because he was poor: he had to eat the cake outside, a class contempt that he never forgot .

"What that gave me was hate," he would remember years later.

"Not that same day, but little by little."

If it survives the recent scandals and the pressure of the political and judicial power, it will have once again shown its capacity for resistance.

If it falls, another chapter may open in French football, so unique: both triumphant in these years, and deeply dysfunctional.

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Source: elparis

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