Accused of sexual harassment, the president of the FFF Noël Le Graët gave an interview to the Parisian, trying to defend himself.
[Mis à jour le 26 octobre 2022 à 16h47] He never really answered, at least at length and trying to argue. Wednesday, October 26, in a very long interview with our colleagues from Parisian, the president of the FFF Noël Le Graët, accused of sexual harassment by many women, rejects all the accusations and even has “the weakness to think” that it is a cabal against him. “These are not accusations, but rumors that are being circulated on the basis of anonymous testimonies. I totally and firmly deny it. I have never harassed anyone” he says firmly at first.
After explaining to our colleagues that he has never had an inappropriate gesture in his whole life towards a woman, he expresses his doubts about a possible plot against him to bring him down. “I have the weakness to think so. It’s so absurd. I tried to look for a face, a person… For several days, my name was thrown out to the ground. I was decked out with all the evils. I took a wave in the face. With the Twitter court, some media prosecutors, it becomes a horror. Enough is enough. It hurts me terribly today…”
Cornered for several weeks in the face of controversy and accusations, Noël Le Graët is also scrutinized and even controlled by the government and the Ministry of Sports as part of an audit which must render its conclusions in the coming days or weeks. For the latter, this major survey will “show that the FFF does not do anything, particularly in terms of checking the integrity of supervisors in clubs in the context of the protection of licensees and the fight against all the forms of violence and exclusion, which must not be forgotten, both in terms of prevention and action.”
What do we know about the sexual harassment scandal at the FFF?
In video shared on Youtube on September 16, Romain Molina explains that the various abuses suffered within the FFF have been passed over in silence. He assures that they started in the 1980s with Francis-Pierre Coché, who was then the coach of the French women’s team and allegedly sexually harassed players so that they could join the France team. “This investigation (…) concerns a system. The administrations have succeeded, the leaders have succeeded, but in the end, it is almost the same system of stifling business”, explains the journalist. He takes the example of coach Angélique Roujas, who was fired by the FFF for taking advantage of minors. According to Romain Molina, everyone at the FFF knew about it at the time, but the woman managed to keep her coaching licenses and was fired several years after the fact.
Romain Molina points out that FFF leaders were made aware of these actions, but that no one did anything. Thus, Brigitte Henriques, number 2 of the Federation, would have assured a player that she could do nothing. The author of the survey assures that some families and some players did not dare to speak out of fear. Others, members of amateur clubs or families of members, have sent emails and letters for cases of pedocrime to the FFF. According to the journalist, they did not receive any assistance or response in return. The French Football Federation would not have informed the Ministers of Sports and the competent authorities of the facts entrusted to it. “If it goes to the end, we will realize that the Fed, obviously, was aware and failed in its public service mission”, assures Romain Molina.
This survey appears after the one published by the magazine SoFoot on September 8, 2022 which denounced sexual and moral harassment. Based on numerous testimonies, “sexual” SMS would have been sent by Noël Le Graët to young women. “I prefer blondes, so if that tells you…”; “You are awfully curvy, I would put you in my bed!” These SMS would have been sent to current or past collaborators 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, says the source again, it’s been going on for ten years.” According SoFoot, several women have been forced to resign in recent years because they felt “sexually harassed, but also morally”. In response, the FFF sued the magazine for defamation. Following the revelations of SoFoot, the Ministry of Sports launched an audit following a meeting with Noël Le Graët and Florence Hardouin (director general of the body) this Friday. “The Minister told them that she was going to initiate a mission from the General Inspectorate for Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) to audit and control the management of the Federation and compliance with the obligations that attach themselves to it.
French Radio also unveiled this Wednesday, October 12 a new accusation of sexual harassment against the president of the FFF Noël Le Graët, pushing him towards an imminent resignation?
The newspaper unveils testimonies from women who have worked within the body and denounce the “inappropriate” behavior of the president. “With me, Noël Le Graët was really clumsy, confides a witness. He told me that he wanted to take me home. He did not send me text messages. At that time, he was not a pro on the phone. But they were repeat invitations to come and have dinner with him.” She says, still according to the media, that one Christmas day the president of the FFF told her: “If something happens between us, don’t worry, no one will know.”
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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 case Karim Benzema in the French 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.