Asked about a possible departure from the FFF in the coming months, the president of the FFF replied curtly.
This Tuesday, September 13, SoFoot, via its footamateur magazine, reveals new information, explaining that the president of the FFF would have announced his departure from the presidency from next January. “Vincent Nolorgues (the president of the Amateur Football League) told us this weekend that Noël Le Graët had informed him that he only had four months left at the head of the Federation”, confided a president of District. “Since the beginning of the summer, we have heard that the president would like to hand over”, also testified an employee of the FFF.
Asked by L’Equipe this Tuesday, September 14, the president of the FFF rejected the idea of a resignation. “I never said that. Those who repeated it misunderstood. I have no intention of quitting at all. If my health remains stable, if I am well, there is absolutely no no reason for me to stop. I’m very good at my job and everyone likes me. I’m lucky to be appreciated.”
Moreover, according to a long survey published by the magazine SoFoot on September 8, harassment, sexual and moral, would reign within the French Federation. Based on numerous testimonies, “sexual” text messages would have been sent by Noël Le Graët to young women. Come to my house for dinner tonight”; “I prefer blondes, so if you like…”; “You are awfully curvy, I would put you in my bed!” Here are three text messages that would have been sent to current collaborators or past who testify anonymously in the monthly. “It’s very simple, he jumps on anything that moves”, explains in particular a former administrative officer. The height? “Everyone is aware at the Federation, still tells the source, it’s been going on for ten years.” According to SoFoot, several women have been forced to resign in recent years because they felt “sexually harassed, but also morally”.
Coincidence of the calendar or not, Noël Le Graët and Florence Hardouin will exchange with the Minister of Sports this Friday, September 16. According to information from RMC Sport, the president and general manager of the French Football Federation (FFF) were “invited” by Amélie Oudéa-Castéra for a moment of exchange to discuss support, the World Cup in Qatar and…. The revelations of So Foot. A position is still expected even if the Minister of Sports had launched “no comment on it, it is not the object”, during an athletics event organized in Paris.
Also questioned Tuesday, September 13 by L’Equipe on this subject, Noël Le Graët did not wish to speak on the subject. “I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about that. We’ll see about that later…
find out more
Noel Le Graët biography. Noël Le Graët was born on December 25, 1941 in Bourbriac, a town located in the Côtes d’Armor department in Brittany. He has led the French Football Federation since 2011 and has also been a UEFA representative in FIFA since 2019. On March 13, 2021, he was re-elected for a fourth term. He is also the founder of an agrifood group that bears his name in the town of Guingamp, of which he was mayor between 1995 and 2008. He was also the president of the club from 1972 to 1991 and then from 2002 to 2011 where he was pass a course at the Breton club.
What is Noël Le Graët’s career as head of the FFF?
Noël Le Graët was vice-president of the FFF from 2005 to 2011, where he was in charge of economic issues for the largest body in French football. In 2008, he voted in favor of the renewal of Raymond Domenech at the head of the national team despite a very complicated Euro and immense unpopularity. It was in 2011 that he took over as head of the French Football Federation. He won 54.39% of the vote against outgoing President Fernand Duchaussoy. On December 15, 2012, he was re-elected with a more comfortable lead (83.07%) for a four-year term that will run until March 18, 2017. It was then that he was re-elected again. against Jacques Rousselot with 57.4% of the vote. More recently, on March 13, 2021, he returned for a fourth term by winning the elections against Frédéric Thiriez, former president of the Professional Football League (LFP) and Michel Moulin. He received 73.02% of the votes. Since the time he has been at the head of the FFF, Noël Le Graët has experienced many extra-sporting events. In September 2020, the Breton leader reacted to Neymar’s accusations against OM defender Alvaro Gonzalez who allegedly uttered racist insults to the Brazilian. Noël Le Graët then affirms that the “racist phenomenon in sport, and in football in particular, does not exist or hardly exists” thus creating a lively controversy.
Throwback to the Le Graët Christmas episode with Karim Benzema
Noël Le Graët is also known for his position on the Karim Benzema case in the France team. If today the Real Madrid striker has returned to the selection, he has experienced a long period of absence for non-sporting reasons. In December 2015, when the Mathieu Valbuena sextape affair exploded and the former Lyonnais was implicated, the president of the FFF explained that Karim Benzema was excluded from the France team “until the situation is changing.” He adds that for the Merengue to return to the France team it is necessary that “the judge decides that the file is empty or that Valbuena and him become friends again after the judge has decided to confront them”. Deprived of Euro 2016, the French striker explains in an interview with Marca that Didier Deschamps and Noël Le Graët had “given in to a racist part of France”. On November 24, 2021, the judgment falls and Karim Benzema receives a one-year suspended prison sentence and a €75,000 fine. Following this decision, the leader of the FFF announces that the attacker remains “selectable”. Before that, in May 2021, Didier Deschamps summons the player from real Madrid for the Euro after five and a half years of absence in selection.
How much does Noël Le Graët earn?
In 2018, the Court of Auditors drafted a report which was revealed by Le Monde. The FFF is then pinned for its more than advantageous remuneration. For Noël Le Graët, he is accused of excessive use of private planes to get around. On the other hand, he occupies the presidency of the FFF on a voluntary basis but earns 206,000 euros net per year to sit on the FIFA council according to Le Monde.