Crisis at FFF: status quo for Noel Le Grae awaiting mid-February audit

No change and therefore resignation this Thursday at Christmas Le Graët. The Executive Committee of the French Football Federation (FFF) decided … not to choose anything. So the president remains in the background while waiting for the final report on the audit commissioned by the Sports Ministry, which is expected in mid-February.

“We remain at the status quo Comex last Thursday,” Eric Borghini, president of the Federal Commission of Arbitrators, told AFP. This Comex decided to appoint Philippe Diallo as interim president, pending the findings of the audit. Noel Le Grae, for his part, currently on holiday in Martinique, did not participate in the meeting organized via video link.

Comex is “awaiting the interim ministerial report submitted in principle on 30 January. Noel and Florence’s observation call opens in ten days (Hardwen, general manager of FFF, fired last week). We also asked Comex to make comments. »

Around February 9, the amended report will be presented to the auditors of the General Inspectorate for Education, Sports and Research (IGESR), who can then write the final report, which will become an official and controversial document from the Ministry of Education. A sport that audits the work of the FFF. “Comex will meet in a few days to fully dedicate itself to the consequences of the audit, which will take place around mid-February,” said Borghini, also president of the Mediterranean League.

Le Grae is under investigation for moral and sexual harassment

This meeting of the “government” of the FFF took place three days after the Paris prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into moral and sexual harassment against the president of the FFF, after the report of the IGESR auditors, who accused the ministry of revealing dysfunctions in the authorities.

Le Graet, 81, in power since 2011, is weakened by numerous arguments and phrases, as well as alleged sexist behavior towards former employees. The former socialist mayor of Guingamp was forced to back down last week during an extraordinary Comex conference convened in the wake of wide-ranging statements about French football icon Zinedine Zidane.

The French football boss denied the accusations, attacking in a press release sent to AFP on Tuesday the leaks organized “through the press” and criticized the “administrative investigation apparently responsible” for which he did not have “an opportunity to present his observations in defense of “. He also criticized the “intervention and political pressure” of the government.